Westmorland and Furness is a future unitary authority area in north-west England. The council will cover the areas currently served by the districts of Barrow-in-Furness, Eden and South Lakeland. It will include all of the area of the historic county of Westmorland as well as the Furness district of historic Lancashire. It will also incorporate a very small part of historic Yorkshire together with about a quarter of the area of the historic county of Cumberland. The district will sit within the ceremonial county of Cumbria[6][7]

Westmorland and Furness
Future unitary authority area
Logo of Westmorland and Furness Council
Map of the future Westmorland and Furness unitary authority within Cumbria
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Cumbria
Historic County	Westmorland Cumberland (part) Lancashire (part) Yorkshire (part)
Seat	Kendal[1][2]
Government
• Body	Westmorland and Furness Council
• Chairman	Matthew Severn[3]
• Leader	Jonathan Brook[4]
Area
• Total	1,449 sq mi (3,750 km2)
Population  (mid-2019 est.)
• Total	225,390[5]
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
Website	Official website

The first elections to the new authority took place in May 2022, with the Westmorland and Furness Council acting as a 'shadow authority' until the abolition of the three former districts and Cumbria County Council on 1 April 2023.[8]

Background

Elections to Cumbria County Council were due to take place in May 2021; however they were postponed for one year by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government due to a consultation on local government reorganisation in the area.[9] In July 2021, the government announced that the current authorities in Cumbria would be abolished and replaced with two unitary authorities, with an east/west split of the county.[10]

Opponents of the reorganisation claimed that the proposal was being pursued to benefit the electoral prospects of the Conservative Party. Cumbria County Council, which would be abolished under the plans, sought judicial review to prevent the reorganisation from taking place.[11] The judicial review was refused by the High Court in January 2022.[12] Draft statutory instruments to bring about local government reorganisation in Cumbria were subsequently laid before parliament.[7] The Cumbria (Structural Changes) Order 2022 (2022 No. 331) was made on 17 March 2022 and came into force the following day.[13]

Area

The name of the unitary authority derives from the county of Westmorland and the peninsula of Furness.[14] Westmorland was previously an administrative county until it was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 and became part of the new county of Cumbria. Furness was administered as part of Lancashire until 1974; together with the Cartmel Peninsula it formed an exclave of that county historically known as North Lonsdale.[15] In addition to those areas, the district includes part of the historic county of Cumberland in the Penrith area, and an area centred on Sedbergh which was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Westmorland and Furness, together with neighbouring Cumberland, will continue to constitute a ceremonial county named "Cumbria" for the purpose of lieutenancy and shrievalties, being presided over by a Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria and a High Sheriff of Cumbria.[16][17] Police services will continue to be provided by Cumbria Constabulary overseen by the Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner.

Politics

Westmorland and Furness Council will have 65 councillors,[18] and the first election to the local authority was in May 2022. At that election the Liberal Democrats secured a majority on the incoming council with 36 out of 65 councillors. Labour will have 15 councillors, the Conservatives will have 11 councillors, the Green Party will have 1 councillor and 2 councillors were elected as independents.[19][20]

See also

• 2019–2023 structural changes to local government in England
• Cumberland (district)

References

External links

• Westmorland and Furness Shadow Authority
• Westmorland and Furness Joint Committee
• Two New Councils for Cumbria