Cllr Chris Wills – thecumbriachronic.co.uk

CRUMBRIA: 12.7.2026

SOME councillors just cannot stop inventing new Talking Shops for themselves — and then taxing the public to pay for them.

Carlisle’s tiny Lib Dem minority is agitating for a new town or parish council to cover the city.

Carlisle already has 12 councillors on Crumberland Council.

Presumably, Crumberland’s Lib Dems now want a second role on a new council below them so they can while away more hours arguing the toss over the price of cheddar.

Party members have been flaring their nostrils in the News & Shrug about “democracy” and “representation” — but they’ve not said a word about the COST to Taxpayers.

The News & Shrug, which attended the meeting where the idea was floated, suffered another of its notorious memory lapses.

Its gullible journalists — or “gerbilists”, in this case — failed to ask even the softest of questions afterwards:

How much would a Carlisle Town Council cost?
How many staff would it need?
How much extra would Carlisle households fork out in Clowncil Tax?

Carlisle residents already cough up more than £115,000 a year for the existing charter trustees to sit around making earth-shattering decisions such as how much to splash out on the Mayor’s new robes.

Lib Dem-dominated Penrith Town Council — now 11 years old — winkles more than half a million pounds from local Taxpayers. Around £366,000 of that goes on staff!

In Barrow, the Labour-controlled town council levies more than £306,000 from the public.