A NEW authority set to take over in Copeland, Allerdale and Carlisle will have a “no wrong door approach” to ensure residents in all areas can access the support they need.

Cumberland Council is set to take over on April 1, 2023 and will be responsible for all services and decisions in local government.

The existing county, city and borough councils will be abolished on that date, handing over responsibility of their services to the new authority.

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Councillors elected to the new authority in May are meeting to prepare for the launch of their new council.

And a committee set up to scrutinise the process heard a call to make the new authority as accessible as possible.

Chairman of the scrutiny committee, Councillor Mike Hawkins said: “I’ve always said this about the county council, where do you go in Whitehaven for the county council? There is nowhere.

“The public out there just see a council, they don’t distinguish between Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council.”

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Cllr Hawkins said that “even though Cumbria County Council spends far more than Copeland Council ever did” in the area, there is a building in Whitehaven for the borough council, not the county council.

“We’ve always had that problem, there isn’t a front-facing office that you could go to in Whitehaven for county council services.

“We are at the start of a new beginning and these are the things we can start to do better. We’re one council now.”

Deputy leader Lisa Brown acknowledged that the new authority should be local by default.

“There’s a big drive from the customer and digital team to not have those blocks in the way for people but also that people can just go in somewhere.

“It will be about using the libraries, focus hubs and all those different places. Using them better and being smarter about it, making sure we’ve broken down those barriers for people that have got frustrated in the past.”

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