A ten-year programme of house building could be created by Carlisle City Council to tackle a shortage in homes.

As part of a four-year asset disposal project, the council identified about 10 pieces of land it could sell to increase levels of housing stock in the city.

Councillor Les Tickner, who is responsible for finance, governance and resources, said that the council had been under its planning target for about a decade.

He said it had identified 18 potential sites and was actively dealing with eight of them to put “packages” together along with social landlords. 

These would retain an income for the council, bring training and job opportunities to the city, as well as meeting the current demand and lack of available housing.

Mr Tickner said the council is aiming to create a 10-year programme of house building, working with local builders and training providers. 

The identified sites include Kingwater Close in Brampton, land off English Street in Longtown, California Road in Belah, and a handful closer to the city centre.

“We’re looking at hundreds of thousands [of pounds] when we get them all sorted out,” said Mr Tickner.

The asset disposal programme was set out four years ago with the intention of raising almost £8 million.

It has now come to the end of its lifespan and councillors learned the scheme had seen the sale of 38 assets, raising £10.15m – £2.33m more than its capital receipts target.

The money is not being left to sit in the bank however, and £7.2m has already been reinvested into buying 10 new assets.

These are expected to generate “hundreds of thousands of pounds” for the cash-strapped authority, and enable it to invest in business.

The city council expects to sell another £3.4m worth of assets in the next financial year.

New assets include properties at Rickergate, land at Caldew Viaduct where Tesco had plans for a store, part of the Woolworth Building and the former BHS unit in The Lanes Shopping Centre, which will become retail giant Primark’s newest home this winter.


Les Tickner Mr Tickner said: “You have to do deals now to get businesses to come. Everyone is crying out for these people.

“You have to do a deal, either a rates break or whatever to get them to come. We’re happy to do that if it brings them in and brings the jobs and they’re here for a long time.”

He said the latest assets acquired were long-term investments for Carlisle.

“Everywhere we’ve put the money in, it’s to get money back. We haven’t bought anything just for the sake of buying. Every one has had its own business case so we can build up our reserves,” continued Mr Tickner. “The policy before was to buy things, which is all very well, but then the money disappears so what we’ve tried to do is invest rather than spend, and make use of our assets.”

The initial programme was agreed in 2011 and was revisited by Labour when it came into control a year later.

The council identified assets, including land and buildings, that were costing money rather than generating it. Each of assets assessed have been sold over the past four years.

He said it was the intention to reinvest to get a better return for the money.

“It was always the plan to not just put the money in the bank because you’re getting 0.5 per cent interest at the moment. That’s nothing, so we’ve invested it where we can,” he said. “We’ve bought property and land where we can get a better return for our money.”

Meanwhile, the council has reduced the number of leases it has by 85 and although it will lose £40,000 a year through rents from some of the buildings it has sold, the authority has been able to divert assets it was having to maintain.