Cumbria seeks £100m to unlock St Cuthbert’s Garden Village  

The county council intends to apply for grant funding from Homes England to build a link road that would facilitate the development of the 10,000-home community.

St Cuthbert’s is one of 14 Garden Villages proposed across the country and sits to the south of Carlisle city centre.

Carlisle City Council claims the site is the largest in the country in terms of housing numbers, with the capacity for 10,325 homes.

The city council and Cumbria County Council have each allocated £10m towards enabling works, and they also secured a further £320,000 of grant funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government in February, to deliver the masterplan.

However, the councils require additional funding to deliver the planned Carlisle Southern Link Road, and Cumbria has asked its cabinet to approve the request for £102m from government agency Homes England ahead of a meeting on 23 July.

A report to the cabinet said: “St Cuthbert’s Garden Village is the single most important project for Cumbria, due to its ability to support growth in the local population and thereby contribute to reversing the declining working age population.

“The Garden Village provides a long-term growth site for Carlisle for delivery of 10,325 new homes over the next 30 years. To facilitate this level of growth, a major infrastructure upgrade is essential.”

The proposed Southern Link Road would provide a link between Junction 42 on the M6 and the A595 connecting to the Carlisle Northern Development Route, thereby completing an outer ring road for Carlisle, according to the report.

“This road is critical in unlocking the development of the Garden Village proposals; providing highway capacity and access to support the delivery of St Cuthbert’s Garden Village and wider strategic connectivity from the M6 to the A595 and a more resilient network within the wider Carlisle highway network,” it said.

Lambert Smith Hampton, WYG, Hemingway Design and Gillespies have all worked on the St Cuthbert’s masterplan.

The garden village is expected to play a vital role in supporting Cumbria’s economic recovery post Covid-19, according to the council.