Plans for a new £1.25m cycle path along the Solway Coast have taken a step forward.

Allerdale council is leading a project developed by the Silloth-on-Solway Coastal Community Team (CCT) to create new off-road sections of the route between Allonby and Silloth.

Now the authority has submitted an application to ensure it complies with conditions to mitigate ecological impact as well as details of road crossings and signage.

A spokesman for Allerdale council said: "The council is currently out to tender for a contractor to carry out the project and it is hoped that work can begin later this summer/early autumn.

"Once the works are underway they will be phased to ensure that there is as little impact on businesses as possible and it's anticipated the project will be complete by the end of the current financial year."

The CCT secured £1m from the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Coastal Communities Fund and a further £250,000 from DEFRA’s Rural Development Programme for England (part of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) for the project.

The ‘Solway Coaster’ scheme will create a 14.1km cycleway between the coastal towns and will form part of the Hadrian’s Cycleway, which runs from Ravenglass to South Shields, Tyne and Wear.