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That the Leader of the Council submits the
Expression of Interest Form, attached as Appendix A to this report,
outlining the Council’s position on furthering a discussion
between Cumberland Council, Westmorland and Furness Council and
Government on combined authority devolution.
 

Reasons for the decision

Following the general election in July 2024,
Local Authorities in Cumbria received a letter from the Deputy
Prime Minister asking each Local Authority to consider submitting
an ‘expression of interest’ to work with the Government
on this next wave of devolution. This expression of interest (EOI)
must be submitted before 30th September 2024.
 
The Government EOI form is focused on
understanding the Council’s preferred geography for
devolution and initial views on adopting the mayoral model. The
Government is due to publish a new devolution framework that will
precisely define the powers and flexibilities available to areas
entering into a devolution agreement. As such, it is recognised
that this needs to be fully understood by local areas before making
any final decision.
 
Submission of an expression of interest is not
a binding decision or commitment to devolution by the Council.
Indeed, at this stage there is no detail of what the Government
proposes to offer Councils or how the funding arrangements would
work. In this respect any expression of interest would be simply to
keep the Council’s options open to understand more about the
governance and funding arrangements for the chosen area before
making any formal decisions.
 

Alternative options considered

The Leader of the Council may have chosen not
to submit and expression of interest form or specified a different
model of devolution.
 
Risks
The decision to submit an EOI is not
considered to bring a significant risk that would not need to be
considered in this report.