A PETITION has been handed over to the city council that calls for a new village council to be formed in Carlisle.

Local resident Brian Wernham, 58, started the petition to create a Stanwix Village Council at the start of last month, setting himself the target of 330 signatures.

Mr Wernham says this number would force Carlisle City Council to hold a local governance review on the idea where the opinions of residents would be collected.

Depending on the results of the review, the city council would then decide if there was sufficient support to warrant a referendum on the proposal.

On Tuesday the petition was handed over to Carlisle City Council’s ceremonies manager at the Civic Centre, after reaching the target at the end of last month.

If the council was to be created, Mr Wernham said it would comprise four sub-wards: Edentown, Knowefield, Fort, and Rickerby Park Ward, run by 12 unpaid village councillors.

Mr Wernham said the village council would instil a sense of community spirit and would enable councillors to apply for grants to fund improvements such as new play areas or the planting of trees.

Carlisle City Council leader John Mallinson had previously stated a village council would be no more able to apply for grant funding than the city council.

He added that additional funding would come from more taxation for residents.

Mr Mallinson said parish councils were important but rejected the idea that it would unlock more funding.

Mr Wernham refuted this, saying Houghton had been the beneficiary of two new kids’ playgrounds organised and partially funded by the Stanwix Rural Village Council by a statutory local levy independent of city or county council approval.