May 2, 2023

Carolyn Otley, Community Resilience Coordinator at Cumbria CVS, takes a look at the new local government structure in Cumbria and how we’re championing the VCFSE sector in the county.

 

1st April saw the reorganisation of local government in Cumbria; after nearly 50 years of Cumbria County Council and six District Councils, we have now moved to two new Unitary Authorities, Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council. 

Unitary Authorities provide all the council services in their local area, meaning there are now huge opportunities to join up services which used to be split across two organisations – for example, making much closer links between housing teams and social care teams. Exciting times!

It’s been a massive change for the organisations involved, but, by and large, the transition seems to have gone relatively smoothly. My bins are still being emptied (and my Council Tax is still being collected), and so it feels like it’s now time to start getting to grips with who’s who, and how we’ll work with the new organisations…

The good news is that there are lots of familiar faces in both new Councils, amongst staff and councillors, so it doesn’t feel like we’re starting from scratch – and there’s a firm commitment from both Councils to work collaboratively with local communities, and with the voluntary and community sector.

You’ll see staff and councillors from the new councils at Cumbria CVS events, such as our Action for Health network meetings and Volunteer Fairs, over the coming months; do take the opportunity to talk to them and find out more about their ambitions.

Some of you will have recently completed a survey that went out through our networks asking what you wanted to know about the new councils. The topics that came up most frequently were understanding who’s who in the new organisations, knowing how each council would be approaching funding for voluntary and community sector groups, and learning how you could get involved in conversations about service design and transformation. We’re hoping to start discussing those questions with the new councils over the next month or two, and we’ll get the answers out to you in future newsletters and on our website. We’ll also be organising online sessions with councillors for our members to allow you to ask the questions important to you.

In the meantime, it’s well worth taking a look at the new Council websites:

https://www.cumberland.gov.uk/
https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/ 

These give you all the usual information about Council services and how to get in touch – and if you scroll down to the bottom of those home pages, there are sections that let you stay informed by signing up for news updates (by email) and icons that’ll take you to their social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram – you’ll be spoilt for choice!).

And in case you’re wondering… yes, “Cumbria” still exists!

It remains as a ceremonial county, and there are still many organisations (such as Cumbria Police… and of course, Cumbria CVS!), so it’s not going to be a word that disappears anytime soon.