History

Meetings of Holme Cultram Urban District Council were held monthly, mainly at the Council Room, Abbeytown but in the summer months in Silloth.  The area the Council were responsible for included Holme Abbey, Holme East Waver, Holme St Cuthbert, Holme Low and Silloth (Silloth included Skinburness and Blitterlees).  The Council was made up of 18 members.

The Council’s responsibilities were:-

i)  Sea Walls – inspection and maintenance (taken over from railways and Mr Joliffe prior to them).
ii)  Obtaining grants from the County Council, Government Departments and the Sea Dyke Charity.
iii)  Roads and pavements – the Railway Company was still responsible for the maintenance of a large area of Silloth – the Council reported to them what needed to be done or to the County Council who were responsible for the upkeep of certain roads.
iv)  Passing of building plans.
v)  Maintenance of council houses and collection of rents.
vi)  Control condition of other housing, and had the authority to order repairs or demolition.
vii)  Notification of infectious diseases to Government Departments – a local medical practitioner was retained for a fee for keeping statistics and producing a Medical report for the area annually.
viii)  Pest control.
ix)  Renting out Allotments around the town, mainly on land the Council leased from the Railway Company.
x)  Gas Committee
xi)  Removal of house refuse.
xii)  The Council leased the whole area of The Green from the Railway Company from 1926 and were then responsible for renting sites to vendors, donkey runs, deck chairs, amusements and special events, and renting out the Pavilion for theatrical productions or band concerts; always with the approval of the Railway Co., who were still responsible for the maintenance of the Green and the paying of employees for this purpose.
xiii)  Fire Brigade.
xiv)  Rate assessment and collection of rates.
xv)  Issuing of licences to retailers for the sale of Petrol and Carbide of Calcium.

In 1932 discussions began in Parliament regarding de-urbanisation of local authority districts, and this included centralising local government for the area to Wigton Rural District.  When the Review of County Districts became law, Wigton Urban, Wigton Rural, Holme Cultram Urban and Aspatria Urban Councils merged into one district, and on 1st April 1934 became Wigton Rural District; Silloth, with Wigton and Aspatria, each became a Parish Council.

The first meeting for the new Silloth Parish Council was held on 5th March 1934.  There were 12 members of the Council, each serving a term of 4 years after election, and these members elected a Chairman from within their number.

A lot of the responsibilities held by Holme Cultram UDC were taken over by Wigton RDC, eg Council Housing, Refuse Collection, Sanitory inspection, repair of sea defences and some of the maintenance of the Green.

In the re-organisation of local authority districts in the late 1960’s, Silloth came under Allerdale District Council Authority.