AN APPEAL of a High Court Judge's decision not to grant the county council a court case would not be supported by the deputy leader.

Cumbria County Council received a letter from High Court Judge Stephen Davies last week, refusing their application for a Judicial Review.

The council applied for the right to take legal action against the UK Government over their decision to split the county into two Local Authority areas.

Leader of the council Stewart Young believes that the decision to reorganise the county, abolishing its seven existing councils and replacing them with two unitary authorities, was "unlawful."

Cllr Young believes the east-west split serves the Conservative Government's political agenda and that the local government reorganisation process has not involved enough public consultation.

In his refusal of the application for a Judicial Review, the judge said that this was "not reasonably arguable."

But the county council has now moved to renew their application, requesting that their barrister can give verbal representations to the judge.

The Liberal Democrats, who make-up one half of the ruling coalition abstained on the vote to launch a Judicial Review in 2021. Although they were not in support of the legal action, they did not want to break-up their coalition with Labour.

Deputy leader Peter Thornton said: "It's not a new process, it's just an extension of the first one. It's just the final stage of that process if we get turned down at that point then we would have to consider whether to go to appeal."

Cllr Thornton and the Liberal Democrats would not be in-support of an appeal.

"We've come so far now, I wouldn't say we're supportive of it but we're not making a big issue of this next stage.

"I think if it doesn't get over the next hurdle that would be the time to call a halt."

Senior Conservatives have criticised the county council leadership believing that more legal action against local government reorganisation would be a waste of tax payer's money.

Mayor of Copeland Mike Starkie said: "Given the emphatic nature of the rejection of the first ill founded venture into court, I'm absolutely staggered that they're going to incur further costs to the tax payer. He should accept when he's beat."

But Cllr Thornton said that this final step in the county council's application for a Judicial Review would cost less than £400.

Cllr Young said: "I think we have a duty to pursue this, given that the councils have been told it is going to cost £19 million just to draw up plans as to how this can be done, plans which should have been drawn up before the proposal was put forward, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the savings which Mike Starkie and Mike Johnson said would be achieved as a result of splitting the County in two will prove to be illusory."