Plans to build a new southern link road around Carlisle have been described as "exciting" by a leading government figure.

Chairman of the Conservative Party and government minister, Brandon Lewis, met with Carlisle's MP John Stevenson yesterday, to discuss the plans for the road, as well as proposals for the 10,000-home new St Cuthbert's Garden Village.

The pair met at Carlisle Racecourse in Durdar Road, which overlooks land which will be used to build the garden village.

The fate of the link road hangs in the balance, as government ministers must now decide whether to grant £102m to Cumbria County Council and Carlisle City Council. A formal bid was submitted this week.

If it is built the road will link the M6 to the east of Carlisle, with the A595 in the west of the city.

It will help to ease congestion in and around the city and also provide essential infrastructure that will support the Garden Village plan.

Mr Stevenson took the party chairman for a drive along the northern link road, to demonstrate how that has helped the city, before then taking him to the potential site for the southern link road, followed by a stop off at the racecourse.

Mr Lewis, said: "We are here right in the middle of where the garden village will be and me and John have been talking through what it means to the area.

"I think [the plans] are really exciting actually. It will be good for local people, giving people more opportunity to have homes locally and that is good for local business."

No assurances were given by Mr Lewis on the chances of the funding bid, however.

"Obviously the government is going to have to look at all the bids that come in from all over the country, I can't predict the outcome of that," he said.

"They will go through where the opportunities are and look at where it is right to put that money in to support the development of housing.

"From what John Stevenson was showing me it is not just 10,000 houses, but it is important local infrastructure for businesses such as Pirelli and Nestle, who invest locally and employ people locally."

The new road would be a boost for the city, said the minister.

"First of all, it is the road that facilitates the ability to build the houses and have access to the development and the 10,000 houses, so more people can live and work locally.

"Also, it gives better access through and around Carlisle, which is good for business and local people."

Mr Stevenson said: "As we know Brandon was an ex housing minister. He was coming up as part of his official duties as party chairman, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to show a cabinet minister the garden village and, as importantly, the prospect of a ring road.

"The councils have just put in their submission and it is critical that we get that road, because it is what opens up the garden village itself and also the economic development of the city and the Borderlands region."

Securing the funding will not be an easy task, admitted Mr Stevenson.

"It is a competitive process. As I understand it there is £4bn available and £6bn of applications, so it is going to be a tough ask competing with the south of England which, as everybody knows, has probably a more pressing housing need.

"Nevertheless, if the Borderlands region is to properly develop, Cumbria is to develop and Carlisle is to grow, we need things like this.

"So it is very important for our region and I am certainly lobbying hard with government, to try and persuade them to invest in our area."