First houses to be built in new 'garden village'
GoogleOutline planning permission has been given for 180 houses, the first in a new settlement that could be as large as 10,000 homes.
St Cuthbert's Garden Village, south of Carlisle, was originally proposed in 2015 and once completed will include shops, extensive green spaces, five new primary schools and a secondary school.
Its first allocated site will see homes built on land near Creighton Rugby club, known locally as Bob Bell's Field.
Liberal Democrat councillor Roger Dobson said: "This is the first step in an exciting development for us in Cumberland."
Cumberland Council"It's very important that we get it right and we start as we mean to go on," he added.
Labour-led Cumberland Council's planning committee heard there had been four objections to the development at Garlands Road and Cumwhinton Road, north of Specked Wood.
Concerns raised were about highways safety, flood risk and overdevelopment.
But the applicant's agent said four objections was "an unusually low number" for a development of this scale.
The plans were recommended for approval subject to conditions including the provision of a minimum of 20 per cent of the dwellings as affordable, half of which for social or affordable rent and half of which for discounted sale.
In addition, the applicant will have to pay £10,000 per house towards the overall development of St Cuthbert's Garden Village as well as a contribution towards the purchase of land for allotments.
Ian DuncanAccess points for vehicles will be from Cumwhinton Road with a second entrance from Garlands Road along with new footpaths, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
A major new road - the Carlisle Southern Link Road - is due to open in June and is considered an important piece of infrastructure in the long-term development of the area.
It will connect Junction 42 of the M6 with the A595 to the west and will include new junctions linking existing routes into Carlisle and the Garden Village as it is built.
