Devolution in Cumbria – thecumbriachronic.co.uk

CRUMBRIA: 4.4.2026

TWO weeks ago, the Chronic was the only media to tell you that the office of our incoming Mayor – the Cumbria Combined Authority – had a silly wages bill of £3.7m.

John Barradell OBN — John Barradell, £155k-a-year CCA chief.

With a new £155,000-a-year chief executive in post (left), and a spin doctor on nearly £60,000, we are now getting a picture of where more cash is being splashed.

The CCA – the new gravy train for Crumbria – is currently casting out for a “Chief Resilience Officer” on £81,000 to £83,933 a year.

That is nearly £5,000 a month after tax – not bad for a job that arrives a full year before YOU vote in a Mayor.

The spending does not stop there. The CCA is also recruiting for a “Chief People Officer” on up to £68,775 a year – about £4,200 a month after tax.

Once you start building a vast £3.7m bureaucracy for yourself – there’s a lot of people you need to, er, officer.

Last year, Keirnocchio’s Government asked Crumbria whether it wanted a Mayor and a new “Combined Authority” in a six-week consultation. (17 Feb and 13 Apr.)

1,325 responses were received, including 1,236 from the public.

On every major question, the public said NO. 58% against overall.

The public’s view:

Benefits overall: 58% disagreed, 32% agreed
Governance: 59% disagreed, 28% agreed
Economy: 56% disagreed, 33% agreed
Social outcomes: 57% disagreed, 27% agreed
Services: 61% disagreed, 27% agreed
Environment: 56% disagreed, 26% agreed
Reflecting local communities: 63% disagreed, 26% agreed

In spite of this backlash, the Government’s opinion was that a Combined Mayoral Authority remained an excellent idea!

Sure enough, our two bull-headed clowncils – Labour-daft Crumberland and the Lib Dem-dictatorship of Wokemoreland & Farcical agreed it was as well and steamrollered it through.

Funny how public consultations work…

Be aware that at least five Mayoral Combined Authorities around the country have jacked-up Council Tax bills in their areas this year (see table below).

Who else is going to pay for all those chief execs, spin doctors, and resilience and chief people officers?

Er, you!

***

Cumbria Combined Gravy Train — **How we told you about the first meeting. Click to read.**

1. Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Band D residents paid £128.95 for the Mayoral General Precept including fire, up £16, and £270.30 for the Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner precept, up £14. Taken together, that is £399.25 on Band D, up £30, which is about an 8.1% increase.

2. West Yorkshire Combined Authority
The Mayor’s police precept for a Band D property rose from £249.28 to £263.28, an increase of £14. The authority’s own leaflet says that is a 5.6% rise.

3. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
The South Yorkshire Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner precept for Band D was set at £265.04 for 2025–26, up £14 from the previous year, a 5.58% increase.

4. York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
The Mayor set the Band D police element at £320.86, up from £306.86 in 2024–25. That is an increase of £14, or about 4.6%.

5. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Liverpool City Region’s mayoral precept went up by £5 on a Band D property for 2025–26, from £19 to £24. That works out as a rise of about 26.3%.

***

READ MORE: MAYOR’S £3.7M STAFF SPAFF