THE leader of Cumbria County Council is seriously concerned west Cumbria will not get the vital investment it needs in its infrastructure.

Labour leader of the council, Councillor Stewart Young, said the council was "reaching the end of its tether" with the lack of support from government and NuGen, which has plans to build a £10bn power station at Moorside, Sellafield.

Without investment in vital infrastructure as soon as possible, Cllr Young said the power station could not be supported.

"We have been told the government isn't going to give any money. NuGen won't give any money," said Cllr Young.

"When is the government going to start investing in west Cumbria? It's almost as if they don't want to invest anything in west Cumbria.

"They need to start investing now or the infrastructure is not going to be there to support it."

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership applied to the government for £165m as part of Growth Deal Three. With this money it promised to deliver more than 5,500 jobs, leverage more than £376m of additional investment, deliver and support more than 5,000 homes and develop more than 600,000sqm of workspace.

But Cllr Young announced at a council meeting in Kendal that instead of £165m, Cumbria LEP had been offered £12.6m.

"It's an insult," said Cllr Young.

As well as transport infrastructure, Cllr Young said schools in west Cumbria need investment and cited the teachers' strike at Whitehaven Academy this week as an example.

Members of the NASUWT union, which accounted for half of all the teachers at the academy, went on strike on Tuesday because of the failure of the academy's leaders to resolve teachers' concerns over management practices and working conditions.

Furthermore, Cllr Young also raised concerns that the government's Success Regime has suggested removing vital health services, including maternity services, from the west.

Cllr Young said there was no point in waiting to upgrade the infrastructure until NuGen starts building Moorside as it would be too late.