Copeland councillors have voted against controversial proposals to slash the number of members by more than a third.

Many Labour members spoke out against the measure, saying slashing the numbers from 51 to 33 was “a step too far”.

All Labour members voted against the proposals in a three-line whip, all Conservative members voted for the proposals and Independent votes were split.

The final tally was 24 against, with 20 votes for.

Following the vote, Coun Peter Connolly put forward a second motion.

He said: “We ask the Boundary Commission to carry out a review of Copeland. The Boundary Commission is an independent and impartial advisory public body and we want them to carry out the review in the manner which they have followed in other areas. Therefore we do not support any report which sets out a premature or predetermined position.”

This motion was carried by 24 votes to 17.

Copeland mayor Mike Starkie, who backed the initial proposal, is now set to make a personal submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission expressing his support for the original plan.

Coun Gillian Troughton said: “There is no doubt that a reduction in councillors is welcomed but that cannot be at the expense of effectiveness.”

Councillors raised a number of issues including effectiveness, workload, major developments and the rural nature of the area. There were also concerns that the report did not anticipate that the population may grow in size.

Coun Allan Holliday said: “We need an effective council – 33 to me is far too low. There is no reduction of people on the streets.

“If we are going to reduce the number, every single member is going to have to be prepared to do twice the amount of work. The figures don’t add up. People are going to struggle to have time off work.”

Among the councillors in support of the proposals was executive member David Moore.

He said: “I know we’ve mentioned the issue of turkeys voting for Christmas but sometimes voting for Christmas isn’t such a bad thing.”

He said councillors needed to look at what the public wanted.

Coun Yvonne Clarkson said reducing the council by about a third was “about right”, as the number of council services had gone down over the years.

Following the meeting, Mr Starkie said: “I’m disappointed that this recommendation to reduce the size of this council has been rejected – and I’m doubly disappointed that it has been rejected in a three-line whipped vote in which the majority of councillors put party politics and self-interest above an independent recommendation.

“I’ve had a long-held belief that this council is over-governed and the number of 51 is disproportionately high.

“I will therefore submit the report to the LGBC that the council size should reduce to 33, supported by independent research, albeit without the support of the Labour group on the council. I thank all the non-Labour councillors who supported this.”

The independent report states the council size should be reduced from 51 to 33 councillors.

The Local Government Boundary Commission will take a final decision in October. The change would come into force at the next council elections in May 2019.

The LGBC will also redraw the council’s ward boundaries and rename the new wards – based on the new councillor numbers – for the 2019 election. There will be two stages of public consultation for this stage, between October and January and March and May.