St Cuthbert's Garden Village: 10,000 homes set for Carlisle

Jane Meek, Cumberland Council's assistant director of thriving place and investment, was speaking to members of the place overview and scrutiny committee at the Copeland Centre in Whitehaven on Wednesday (June 12).

They had heard an update on the proposed St Cuthbert's Garden Village project in the Carlisle area which it is expected to take between 30 and 40 years to deliver.

Ms Meek told the committee that she was in regular contact with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and she said: "We are at the forefront of delivering garden villages in the country."

Land south of Carlisle. Picture: David Hollins

Report author Neil Cole, the council's head of planning policy, said it was the largest such development north of Manchester. It would be the size of Penrith and include 10,000 new homes as well as commercial, retail and employment space with five new primary schools and a secondary school.

He said one of the challenges was that there were a number of different landowners to deal with instead of just one, and a number of preferred modes of delivery of the project have now been narrowed down to a choice of two.

Ms Meek said the idea of a garden village was originally proposed in 2015 by the former Carlisle City Council and Mr Cole's report represented the work which had been carried out since then.

She added: "There's a huge amount of work going on and not just in terms of the masterplan."

Speaking about the length of time the project would take to deliver she said: "It's not something that's delivered overnight."

Councillor Tony Markley (Solway Coast, Conservative) asked how far on the project was, had the land been acquired and what was the proposed boundary of the garden village?

Ms Meek said it was a "huge area", the landowners had been informed and the main focus of it would be outside Dalston.

Work underway on the southern link road project, the first step in the garden village development (Image: Cumberland Council)

Mr Cole said more than 100 landowners were involved and there had been no objections. He added: "In terms of St Cuthbert's we are pushing against an open door."

Councillor Chris Wills (Upperby, Lib Dems) said that the public needed to be kept informed about the development as it had attracted negative comments which were based on "ignorance" and Ms Meek replied: "You are right... we do need to keep on people's radar."

Councillor Michael Eldon (Cleator Moor West, Labour) said that there needed to be specialist facilities provided at the schools for SEND pupils and councillor Helen Tucker (Cockermouth North, Labour), herself a teacher, said recruitment of teachers for the current school year had been a "nightmare".

She said: "50 per cent of the teacher training places were not filled."

An artist's impression of open space proposed as the centre piece of St Cuthbert's Garden Village

Committee chairwoman, councillor Jill Perry (Bothel and Wharrels, Green Party) asked: "How serious are the risks that it doesn't go ahead and all we are left with is a road... or it goes ahead partially?"

Ms Meek said there were always risks with such developments and added: "We have, I feel, everything in place in terms of the business case."

Cllr Markley suggested that they should be given regular updates on the project and members noted the contents of the report.