Cumberland is located in the Northwest of England, bordering Westmorland and Furness and Northumberland to the east and Scotland to the north.

Cumberland is a place of contrasts. With a population of 277,000 lives in an area covering 3,012 square km it is a large, characterised by urban settlements with large rural hinterlands.

Cumberland is home to some of the world's most stunning rural and coastal landscapes (including the Lake District National Park and Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Sites) which draw in millions of visitors a year.

Reflecting our geography, Cumberland has a diverse economy with two major centres of economic activity: the city of Carlisle located in the east and the ‘energy coast’ area located in the west, that incorporates the towns of Mayport, Workington and Whitehaven.

The city of Carlisle is our largest urban centre and at the heart of the regional economy delivering services for communities and business across much of Cumbria, south Scotland and Northumberland. Situated alongside the M6 motorway and West Coast Mainline railway the city has excellent connectivity to the north, east and south.

The West Cumbrian coast is characterised by rich industrial and maritime heritages but has now established itself as both a visitor destination with the landscapes of the Western Lake District and as a centre for industry, nuclear excellence in decommissioning and research and development.

We are ambitious about the role of housing with focused local plans and a determination to deliver. Our adopted local plans each responded with ambitious growth strategies designed to address local demographic trends and support long term economic growth.

These plans have delivered excellent results. The majority of the sites allocated in both the Allerdale and Carlisle Local Plans have now been taken up which demonstrates the strong and sustained demand for housing within the region.

We have a significant pipeline of live planning applications with the capacity to deliver over 3,000 homes. The scale of applications pending further reinforces the evidence of the sustained demand for new homes, which is not showing signs of dissipating.

As a result of the homes delivered in recent years, we are now showing a net growth in working age residents which doubled after covid. As well as delivering the right types of homes, this can be attributed to households now having greater flexibility in where they ‘choose’ to live and work versus where they ‘need’ to live and work. Cumberland provides that wider lifestyle offer and major growth projects like St Cuthbert’s Garden Village will ensure this positive trend continues.

There are very good reasons why people are attracted to living in Cumberland which continues to drive the demand for new homes ensuring new developments will succeed.

We have a diverse and thriving economy and are home to some of the most famous brands in the world. We also host the largest nuclear site in Europe which is leading the way in R&D, robotics and clean energy growth.

We are accessible served by the M6 motorway and West Coast Main Line meaning we are within 2 hours of Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

We offer a network of high quality schools, colleges and training centres and the University of Cumbria are collectively delivering skilled and qualified young people into our workforce.

We can offer the lifestyle providing something for everyone – ranging from a stunning landscape and coast catering for a range of outdoor pursuits to having great places to eat and drink - we are home to the most Michelin starred restaurants outside of London.

We have comparatively lower living costs and lower crime rates.

We are providing the foundations for future growth with a multi-million-pound investment pipeline over the next decade in Carlisle, Cleator Moor, Maryport, Millom, Whitehaven and Workington. In the north west alone, five of the eight largest proposed investment projects will be delivered in Cumbria – bringing more jobs and providing an environment that is ideal to live and play in.

Cumberland remains firmly open for business and we are moving forward to preparing a new Local Plan for Cumberland to provide even greater certainty for the future supply of housing land over the next 20 years.

To maintain the pace of delivery and to provide greater choice and range of product, we want to broaden the number of housebuilders operating across Cumberland. The pipeline - current and future - provides opportunities for all sectors of the house building industry to flourish.

The following areas have been identified as local housing priorities:

Town and city centre living

The development of housing that brings more people to live within our town centres plays major role in our ambition to revitalise our town centres, as well as supporting key policy aims around active travel, affordable and independent living, the wellbeing economy, net zzero, and the re-use of existing built assets.

Quality family homes

We need to continue increasing the number of quality family homes available across Cumberland to meet both local needs and the needs of an increasing number of families moving into Cumberland to take up employment opportunities.

Older people's and specialist housing

With an aging population and an increasing number of people those opting to retire in Cumberland, we will need to deliver a range of accommodation solutions for older people.

Affordable housing

For individuals and families remains an important component of our approach.

A good quality rented sector

Market renting is likely to have a role to support our economic ambitions eg for good quality temporary accommodation for staff and contractors.

St Cuthbert's Garden Village

Covering over 1,300 hectares, St Cuthbert’s Garden Village is a transformative new urban extension to the edge of Carlisle and is currently the largest single development opportunity in the north of England.

Over a projected 30 year build out, St Cuthbert’s will deliver 10,000 new homes for around 23,000 new residents. The project will deliver quality homes in a quality environment and will drive the role of Carlisle at the heart of our region.

The £225 million Carlisle Southern Relief Road funded by Homes England will open in December 2025 fully unlocking St Cuthbert’s and improving connectivity to the M6 for its residents and the existing communities west and south of the city.

The delivery strategy is underpinned by St Cuthbert’s Local Plan. The draft plan was published in March 2025 and scheduled to be adopted in Summer 2026. The plan sets out a clear plan for supporting infrastructure including:

• 161,000 sq ft of new comparison and convenience shopping
• 75,000 sq ft new on-site employment space
• a strategic employment site to the east of Junction 42 of the M6 Motorway capable of delivering over 2m sq ft of new floorspace for manufacturing and logistics

We are also working closely with MHCLG and Homes England to finalise our proposals for a new delivery vehicle to support delivery of St Cuthbert’s that would be operational by 2027. In part, this will operate as a master developer, taking an active role to assemble the necessary land, preparing and servicing development plots, and subsequently disposing these to developers. Our economic, commercial and financial research confirms the viability of our proposition with a positive BCR of 4.45. So there are genuine opportunities for new private sector partners to work alongside the public sector to deliver St Cuthbert’s.

More information can be found at St Cuthbert's Garden Village