Featured image credit: Cumberland Sports Village
Plans for the Cumberland Sports Village development, which will include a new stadium for football and rugby league, have taken a major step forward with the release of funds to allow the creation of a full planning application for the scheme.
Cumberland Council has agreed the release of grant funding worth £235,000 (€275,000/$300,000) as part of the Workington Town Deal. This will be used to draw up detailed plans for the project, instruct architects, and bring in the expertise of other planning professionals to prepare the planning documents.
It is expected that the application will be made to Cumberland Council by the autumn. Cumberland Sports Village Limited, a company limited by guarantee, will be responsible for the development of the site and will also be able to call upon additional funding from Allerdale Investment Partnership to fund its initial operating costs.
Cumberland Sports Village is a joint project between Allerdale Borough Council, non-league football club Workington AFC, and semi-professional rugby league team Workington Town RLFC.
The project’s aim is to create a high-quality, inclusive and accessible venue for the two clubs that can also be used by the wider community. The project would also include other community sporting facilities.
A redeveloped Borough Park, the current home of Workington AFC, is at the heart of the project. The project has been made possible through £23.1m of the government’s Town Deal funding and the plans are now set to progress.
Dave Bowden, spokesman for Cumberland Sports Village, said: “The next stage of work to build the new Cumberland Sports Village can now begin in earnest.
“The grant of this funding means we can put everything in place to draw up the detailed plans and show sports fans across the county and beyond how this fabulous new stadium is going to look. This is more than just a sports ground, it’s an entire community facility, and it’s exciting to see it gathering pace.”
Councillor Mark Fryer, leader of Cumberland Council, added: “I am very pleased the council is now able to release this initial tranche of funding. I have been fighting for West Cumbria to have a top-class stadium for many years and it is fantastic that the architects are now able to create the detailed designs for a venue which will cement our status as major players on the sporting map.”
The project has been planned for several years. In 2019, plans for a new 8,000-capacity stadium were rejected and Allerdale Borough Council’s Executive agreed to look further into the business case for a new community stadium in Workington.
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