Cumbria County Council has backed a multi-million-pound project to breathe new life into Carlisle city centre.

The county council’s local committee for Carlisle agreed at a virtual meeting yesterday to support Carlisle City Council's bid for a £16.6million cut of the Government’s £1bn Future High Streets Fund.

The money would be used for projects including: the repurposing of a number of properties on Castle Street; site preparation work on the former Central Plaza Hotel site ahead of redevelopment; remediation work on the Carlisle Riverside development site; and the redevelopment of the former Hoopers department store which was bought by Edinburgh Woollen Mill earlier this year.

The city council is expected to submit a business case by the end of the month and the committee pledged to write a letter to the authority in support to be attached to the case.

David Haughian, who presented a report on the project to the committee, also highlighted potential schemes in Market Square and Devonshire Street which have been proposed to be delivered by the county council.

He said: "Officers have been working very closely with the city council around the scheme designs and the cost estimates that have been developed and that includes people like myself from capital programmes and our highways team as well.

"We believe, following engagement with the city council, that they've got a funding envelope that's adequate to be able to deliver a good scheme on those areas but ultimately those schemes are only at a concept stage at this moment."

He said if the city council bid was successful, one of the next phases would be to undertake further design work which the committee would feed into.

Councillor Stephen Haraldsen praised the proposals as "great" and gave them his backing but questioned why the Market Square development was one of the most expensive elements at £2.7m.

Mr Haughian reiterated that those schemes were only at a "concept stage" but said the commitment to using high quality materials and potentially installing street furniture and integrating a "pocket park" in the large square increased the cost.

"We want to ensure there is adequate scope within that cost estimate," he added.