AN MP has slammed the dramatic reduction in councillors for unitary governance in Cumbria as ‘bad news for democracy, accountability and, ultimately, for local residents’.

Lib Dem Tim Farron said fewer councillors would mean those that were operating had less time ‘acting to fix streetlights, repair footpaths or fill potholes’.

Two new unitary authorities are set to begin running in Cumbria early in 2023. A ‘Westmorland and Furness’ council will be made up of Barrow, South Lakeland and Eden. A ‘Cumberland’ council will comprise Copeland, Allerdale and Carlisle.

Using current district councillor numbers - many councillors serve at county level as well - Barrow, South Lakeland and Eden have one councillor per 1,803 people, based on mid-2020 population estimates.

This will fall to one councillor per 3,467 people in the new authority, which will have 65 councillors.

At district level, Copeland, Allerdale and Carlisle have one councillor per 2,268 people. This will fall to one councillor per 5,965 people in the new authority, which is to have 46 councillors.

The merging of authorities will therefore mean a reduction of at least 48 per cent in the number of councillors serving across the Westmorland and Furness area, and a reduction of at least 62.98 per cent across the Cumberland area.

Conservative Carlisle MP John Stevenson disagreed with Mr Farron on the subject of councillor numbers, saying he was ‘delighted’ by the planned reduction and suggesting the county was ‘over-governed and under-led’.

“It should hopefully lead to better decision-making, clearer lines of accountability and, also, savings,” he said.

He felt councillor numbers for the Westmorland and Furness authority were ‘broadly right’ and that Cumberland was ‘slightly on the light side’.

“But we must remember that, once the council’s in place, there will immediately be a boundary review which, in my view, will probably lead to an increase in the number of councillors in the ‘west’ [Cumberland] council,” he said.

Cllr Stewart Young, of Labour, the leader of Cumbria County Council, said: “You can’t have a council with 200 or 300 councillors on it. That’s just totally unworkable.

“So there’s going to be a reduction in the number of councillors.

“What stands out is that they have treated the two unitaries differently for no good reason that I can see.”