WORK to construct 157 homes on the outskirts of Carlisle will soon get under way after planning permission was granted for the development.

Carlisle City Council’s Development Control Committee unanimously approved a reserved matters planning application from Penrith-based Genesis Homes for 157 high-specification homes to be built on land near Cumberland House Clinic, west of Cumwhinton Drive.

Outline planning permission for the construction of up to 160 homes on the site was granted in 2020 on behalf of government agency Homes England, which acquired the site to promote is use for housing.

The Woodlands development from Genesis Homes, which will comprise a range of one to five bedroom houses, flats and bungalows including the conversion of Victorian building Cumberland House into six apartments, will preserve surrounding woodlands to encourage biodiversity to thrive.

John Blue, the company’s Land Director, said: “Genesis Homes is committed to making all our developments as environmentally friendly as possible, and a main aim of ours is to enhance the biodiversity and ecology of the local area.

“We are delighted to be able to create a distinctive, characterful housing development which is sensitively embedded within the existing landscape, and preserve the beautiful surrounding wooded areas.”

The development will be located close to the proposed St Cuthbert’s Garden Village, an ambitious housing and economic development scheme planned to regenerate the local area.

The St Cuthbert’s development, identified as one of 14 garden villages across the UK by the Government, proposes to construct thousands of new homes, create new employment opportunities, build new community facilities and improve local transport links.

The Woodlands development will complement the garden village and provide a further boost for the community.

John said: “There is a strong vision for regeneration in the area and plans to create a new market area locally, and we are excited to form a positive relationship with the nearby development to boost the community even further.”

Thirty of the homes on the Woodlands development have been designated affordable housing to help local people onto the property ladder.

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