Carlisle city councillors are being asked to get behind proposals to split local politics in two, breaking Carlisle, Eden and Allerdale away from the rest of the county.

Carlisle City Council will gather virtually for a special meeting next Tuesday, in which the prospect of splitting Cumbria’s council makeup into two separate authorities – one north and the other south Cumbrian – will be discussed.

The proposal comes as the Government’s deadline nears for submitting suggestions on how local politics in Cumbria should look in the years to come.

The final decision on what the city council’s suggestion should be rests with its executive, led by council leader John Mallinson.

However, it is hoped by the council’s leadership that next week’s meeting will be an opportunity for broad support for its proposal to be demonstrated.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the suggested new arrangement from the city council is the prospect that Workington and Whitehaven will belong to different councils – Workington as part of north Cumbria with Carlisle and Penrith, and Whitehaven as part of south Cumbria, with Kendal and Barrow.

This addressed the Government’s desire to see new councils covering a population as close to 300,000 as possible.

Keeping within Cumbria’s existing boundaries, this involves splitting the county in two, either into east and west or north and south.

A report from the council’s chief executive, Dr Jason Gooding, suggested that a north and south split was preferable. To split the county into an eastern half – Barrow, South Lakeland and Eden – and a western half – Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland – would result in a more populous western half with a stronger economic profile.

A north and south split, he explained, with Allerdale, Carlisle and Eden in the north and Barrow, Copeland and South Lakeland in the south, would be more balanced, both economically and in terms of population.

Other authorities in Cumbria are set to submit alternative proposals to the Government in advance of its December 9 deadline.

Cumbria County Council favours a single unitary authority covering the whole of Cumbria, while Barrow and South Lakeland favour the creation of a “Morecambe Bay” authority, encompassing the Lancaster City Council region, and a north Cumbrian authority including Carlisle, Eden, Allerdale and Copeland.