THE chairman of Cumbria’s joint districts has told the leader of the county council the authorities will not work collectively to plan for a move to a unitary system.

Alan Smith, who is the Labour leader of Allerdale council as well as chairman of the six joint districts, made the comments in a letter to Stewart Young, leader of the county council.

Responsibility for delivering services in the county is split between the county council and the borough. A defunct attempt to merge the districts into a unitary authority has recently been resurrected by Cllr Young.

However Cllr Smith told him there was no shared view to move to a unitary system and that the districts collectively would not participate in work to see how such a move would work.

Cllr Smith said: “There has been a lot of debate amongst our political leaders about the future governance of Cumbria. The current situation – with six districts and one county Council – can seem overly confusing for many people with different authorities having various and sometimes overlapping responsibilities.

“Cumbria needs to be run as efficiently and effectively as possible, ensuring people are properly represented and avoiding cuts which will adversely impact on our residents. I, as leader of Allerdale Borough Council and chair of the joint districts, remain committed to participating in working towards a better Cumbria for all our residents whatever form that takes.

“I do not believe that the public are best served by non-productive disagreements between the district and county councils. If change is required then we have to work together on the best option. But that solution has to be based on evidence. We should not dismiss options and opinions, or go down a particular route, without providing the financial, legal and operational evidence to do so.

“I will do what I can to work proactively with our partners to find the best solution for Cumbria’s future. The interests of our residents are not served when we do not work together or make a knee-jerk decision which hasn’t been properly assessed.”

Cllr Dave Pidduck, leader of Barrow Council, said the idea of a unitary authority in Cumbria was not one he thought best for residents of the borough and his main focus was to give residents the services they need.

Cllr Pidduck said: “We have been told by doing this we can save money and get rid of councillors, well that’s the wrong starting point for something like this.

“The starting point when you make decisions like this should be how you get the services to those who live in the borough and that hasn’t been considered.

“I want the senior officers to focus on supporting the borough, that’s my priority.”

Labour leader for South Lakeland District Council, Cllr Mark Wilson voiced concerns getting rid of councillors would not be beneficial for those who rely on them.

He said: “I have a wariness about ideas that are not thought through and getting rid of councillors is something I’m unsure about.

“I get 30 calls a week from residents who want my help, how do we provide them with that if we don’t have the councillors.

“However, if working arrangements could be made for a unitary authority I would be pleased to listen to them.”

Cllr Young, leader of Cumbria County Council, said although he supports the idea of a unitary authority, previous attempts have never worked.

He said: “During my time on the council there have been three attempts to get unitaries which I am very much in favour of.

“All of them have been unsuccessful.

“It makes financial sense to have unitary authorities and anything that we get in Cumbria from London is usually written with unitaries in mind.

“We have been doing some work in Cumbria on this and we will have a meeting later this month to get feedback.”