CUMBRIA DEVO: THE SITCOM

CRUMBRIA: 23/07/2025

THE decision not to go ahead with the election of a Mayor of Crumbria next year – (drawing titters at our Devolution process before it’s even started) – also raises questions about a new name on the Council payroll.

In spring, the supposedly hard-up Crumberland & Wokemoreland were indulging in another outrageous example of town hall extravagance by casting out for an interim Devolution Programme Director to join the Mayoral gravy train.

Salary? Up to £88,000 plus a juicy £1o,000 market supplement.

Taking the bait was silver-haired civil servant, John Barradell OBE, whose appointment appears to have slipped past our pathetic comics.

The more-than-capable 65-year-old has a glittering local authority CV…a former town clerk and chief executive of the corporation of London; ex-head of Westminster City Council, Brighton & Hove Council, etc, etc.

In a classic example of the public sector putting cart before horse, the two councils appointed him in May to oversee the establishment of a Mayoral Combined Authority that, er, hasn’t been fully agreed yet!

The final decision on the new authority won’t be taken by the councils until September, and there’ll be no Mayor arriving until May 2027!

So with the timetable having slipped – sparking weeks of national mourning in Crumbria – can Taxpayers be confident that our new man is not overtaxed by his duties?

Has his Council-issued FitBit registered movement yet?

Particularly given that our Councils demanded their candidate be: “Action oriented…taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.”

We’ll hand these pressing questions over to Crumbria’s churnalists, although with the massive caveat that they only appear to have one working ear. And that ear is tuned only to what the Council decides to tell them about Devolution in Press Releases or official meetings!

As one astonished observer, close to said affairs, tells The Chronic: “I just can’t get my head around the fact that the local Press are not all over this.”