The go-ahead has been given for works set to begin the process of bringing a vacant area close to the city centre back into use.

Carlisle City Council's development control committee has given approval to plans for "remediation and enabling" works in the Caldew Riverside area, close to the Victoria Viaduct on the fringe of the city centre.

The site in question includes the Lower Viaduct Car Park, owned by the city council, and the stretch of vacant land adjacent to it, though not the Upper Viaduct Car Park, which sits atop the embankment bordering the site.

The area was formerly occupied by railway sidings, as well as car showrooms, and was once sited next to a gas works.

The historical uses of the site have left behind "contamination", such as redundant underground fuel tanks beneath the land. The cost of addressing this land contamination has previously stood in the way of plans to bring the vacant site back into use.

However, towards the end of last year it was announced the city council was in line to receive £850,000 in accelerated funding from the Government's Towns Fund investment scheme, in order to help kickstart the city's economy following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Carlisle City Council also received a further £150,000 for the creation of a temporary creative and start-up business hub in Bitts Park, the plans for which were also approved at Friday's development control committee meeting.

The Caldew Riverside site is identified in the city council's Local Plan, which guides development in the district, as a "significant regeneration opportunity".

It is hoped that once the remediation works, as well as further ground investigation works, are carried out, the site will be brought closer to becoming a viable opportunity for development.

Economy, enterprise and housing portfolio holder, Conservative councillor Paul Nedved, said on Friday that it was "very pleasing to see that the first phase of this particular project is going forward with the support of accelerated funding".

"It really will be a tremendous boost to the city centre, as and when it is remediated, possibly for a future residential development," he said.