ADDRESSING widespread job losses across Cumbria is one of the key issues for the county council's new chief executive Louis Victory, who took up his £95,000 a year post this week.

Mr Victory said Cumbria had suffered a large number of redundancies over recent months in many parts of the county, reflecting the decline in traditional manufacturing industry and the tough times facing farmers and rural communities.

He said he was "enormously" looking forward to his new job and he plans to spend his first few weeks meeting councillors and senior staff and travelling around the county.

The former environment director at Nottinghamshire County Council is keen to generate more public interest in the county council.

A major public consultation exercise is due to be launched late next month, with questionnaires being sent to every Cumbrian household seeking people's views on the council's future policies and strategy.

Cumbrians will also be asked whether they want a directly-elected mayor to take charge of county council services, or a cabinet-style system of local government comprising senior county councillors.

Mr Victory personally favours a cabinet system, saying: "To have a figurehead for an area as diverse as Cumbria would probably be almost impossible."

Cumbria was one of the first local authorities in the country to change the decisionmaking process by replacing the old-style committee system with a cabinet, but some critics claim the new arrangements have led to much less open government.

While praising the changes made in Cumbria, Mr Victory stressed the need to ensure decisions were "as transparent as possible."

Mr Victory, 52, already knows his way around Cumbria, having spent some "wonderful" holidays in the Lakes, although his very first experience of the county left him with less pleasant memories.

"I was driving up a hill in my very first car and someone was coming down the hill driving too fast and my car ended up as a write-off," he recalled.

Now he is relishing the challenge of taking the helm of an organisation with a £380 million annual budget which employs thousands of staff.