A RESTRUCTURE of how the county is governed has been given final approval by the House of Lords.

Local government reorganisation will be complete in Cumbria by 2023, seeing the seven existing councils replaced by two new unitary authorities - carrying the decision-making powers of both county and borough councils.

Two new constituencies will be created in the process.

Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland will make up the new Cumberland local authority area.

Eden, South Lakeland and Barrow-in-Furness will form the new Westmorland & Furness constituency.

The Structural Change Order, which gives central government the legal authority to make these changes, reached the House of Lords on Monday.

It was approved but not without concerns from Lord Roger Liddle, who also serves as a county councillor.

Lord Liddle said: “I’d like to put on record that I believe the decision that we’re implementing today in this House which was taken by the Secretary of State Robert Jenrick last Summer to split Cumbria into two unitary authorities, I’d like to put on record my view that this is unsustainable, possibly in the short term and certainly in the medium term.

“In the short term it involves splitting services which are of vital importance yet fragile, such as social care and child protection, it involves splitting them in the space of 12 months and I fear the consequences for the most vulnerable in our society as a result of that.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about changes to our county

Lord Liddle said: “These are unnatural communities that the Government is imposing on Cumbria and I cannot believe that these new authorities will sustain public support in the longer term.”

The county councillor for Wigton also raised concerns about the reorganisation at the Grand Committee stage, telling Lords that industrial Barrow-in-Furness clashes with its constituency partner of rural Eden.

Lord Stephen Greenhalgh, who proposed the motion said: “My lords, we debated this at some length in Grand Committee and the points were made by the noble Lord Liddle very eloquently and I’ve actually since then agreed to meet with Lord Liddle and the current Cumbria County Council leader.

“I will also say that it doesn’t need to be that you split the commissioning of adult social care or social services there are ways, even if you split into two county councils, of commissioning together.

“Where there is a will there is a way and I’m sure the two new leaders of the two new local authorities will seek to build bridges rather than erect walls.”

The SCO for Cumbria was approved alongside changes to the local government make-up of North Yorkshire and Somerset.

Conservative leaders believe that unitary authorities provide "continuity of services" and "more effective leadership."

The process is designed to devolve powers from Whitehall to local leaders and proposals for local government reorganisation in many of regions were set out in the Levelling-Up White Paper.

Elections on May 5 will appoint councillors to Shadow Authorities who will serve alongside existing councils for one year before fully taking over on April 1 2023.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about changes to our county