A CONTROVERSIAL bid to build 92 homes on a brownfield site steeped in railway history has been given the green light.

The proposal to build 92 dwellings with public open space and a car park at Currock Yard were approved, with conditions, by Carlisle City Council’s planning panel last week.

Councillors voted in favour of approving the application, however, Currock Avenue Limited will be tied into a legal agreement and cannot begin development of the homes until they put pen to paper.

The Section 106 legal agreement requires the developer to include 18 affordable units and four bungalows in the housing stock.

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Currock Avenue Ltd must also provide an off-site contribution to open spaces of £34,511 for the upgrading and maintenance of Jubilee Road.

They are also required to provide a financial contribution of £19,593 for the support of off-site improvements to sports facilities in the city.

Funding will also be required for secondary school places and a travel monitoring plan.

The council received 54 letters of objection from residents raising a variety of issues including with highways, privacy, and ecology.

A primary issue raised by both residents and consultees was the loss of the city’s railway heritage.

In order to build the now approved 92 homes on the site, Currock Avenue will demolish the former rail depot’s pump house which dates back to the early 1900s.

Cumbria County Council’s archaeological services officer said: “The pump house has the potential to fulfil the criteria of a locally important heritage asset and, if so, then policy HE6 states that the presumption should be to retain it.

“In the event planning consent is granted and the pump house is considered not to be a locally important heritage asset, it should be recorded prior to demolition.”

The city council’s heritage officer raised concerns in their response that the pump house could be “an undesignated heritage asset,” which they believe should remain as part of the site’s future development.

But Currock Avenue said that it is an “isolated incongruous industrial building” in a “very poor state of repair.”

While residents have raised concerns about the impact on traffic, the case officer in recommending the homes for approval said: “The proposed access and parking arrangements (including for residents of South Western Terrace) would be acceptable.

“The proposal would not have an unacceptable adverse impact on residential amenity, on biodiversity, on heritage assets, on crime prevention or on the adjacent railway line.”

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