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Workington Town Deal
The Workington Town Deal includes a vision for the town, focusing on growing the economy and employment.
Workington was invited by the government to develop proposals to support the town's economic growth prospects with a focus on improved transport, broadband connectivity, skills and culture. Communities, businesses and local groups had the opportunity to help draw up a Town Investment Plan which was submitted to government in October 2020.
In March 2021 as part of the government's budget, it was announced that Workington had been successful in securing £23 million from the towns fund.
The business cases for the five projects were agreed by the executive on 1 March 2022.
The government has now agreed £23.1 million worth of funding that will allow the Workington Town Deal projects to progress. Having received the funds from the government, the projects will now move into the more detailed design phase before building works can begin.
The vision
The Town Deal Board's Working Town Investment Plan outlines a vision for the town, focusing on:
- growing the Workington economy and employment through focusing on its strengths in manufacturing and clean energy, as its role as West Cumbria's primary service centre
- attracting new and growing businesses through offering a skilled workforce, a competitive cost base, and localised support
- offering high-quality academic and vocational education and training opportunities to its residents and people across West Cumbria
- bolstering its natural and built environment offer for residents and visitors
- ensuring Workington's town centre prospers through attracting residents and public and private investment, diversifying existing users
- developing excellent digital and physical connectivity
- distributing the proceeds of Workington's growth are shared widely in the local community
- ensuring Workington remains a safe, healthy, affordable and sustainable community
What the money can fund
The towns fund will provide the core public investment in town deals - additional funding may come from other sources or parts of government. The objective of the fund is to drive the economic regeneration of towns to deliver long term economic and productivity growth through:
Urban regeneration, planning and land use
Ensuring towns are thriving places for people to live and work, including by:
- increasing density in town centres
- strengthening local economic assets including local cultural assets
- site acquisition, remediation, preparation, regeneration
- making full use of planning tools to bring strategic direction and change
Skills and enterprise infrastructure
Driving private sector investment and ensuring towns have the space to support skills and small business development.
Connectivity
Developing local transport schemes that complement regional and national networks, as well as supporting the delivery of improved digital connectivity.
Projects
The following projects were included as part of the Town Investment Plan (TIP) and were successful in gaining funding.
Town centre public spaces and connectivity
In order for Workington to maintain its position as the main retail and commercial centre in West Cumbria, it is essential to create an appealing town centre that is accessible to all and complements its rich heritage. To this end, the Town Deal Board has allocated a significant investment of £4 million towards improving the gateway to Workington's town centre. The proposed enhancements include:
- increasing the number of green spaces in public areas
- reducing the emphasis on vehicles
- enhancing wayfinding
- improving infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians
Workington Sports Village
The Workington Sports Village projects aims to build on existing and proposed sports and leisure facilities close to Workington Town Centre to create a multi-purpose sports village that will provide high quality inclusive and accessible sporting facilities for both community and professional clubs that will be sustainable in the long term.
The proposals would include:
- the redevelopment of the existing ground at Borough Park to create a new shared stadium for Workington Reds and Workington Town to provide a new modern stadium that will meet the aspirations of the clubs and provide a foundation for their future progression
- the new stadium would sit alongside a new community facility based around an artificial grass pitch with the potential to introduce other facilities to support a range of other sports
- the new facilities would be located closed to the Workington Leisure Centre where a new outdoors events space and outdoor gym is to be built and close to the well-established cricket and bowling club and the aim would be to provide a hub of sporting excellence
- it is also proposed to provide investment in the improvement of existing playing pitches at Moorclose to provide a satellite facility for the Sports Village and meet to meet the wider demand for high quality playing pitches in Workington
Innovation centre and co-working space
The Workington Innovation Centre is a proposed flexible town centre office space solution for start-up and growing businesses in West Cumbria, as well as high quality co-working space for local knowledge workers.
This major investment recognises the limitations of existing office provision in Workington. Similar schemes have been successful around Cumbria and in comparable communities around the country. The project will help to ensure west Cumbria’s entrepreneurs can invest locally, as well as allowing local residents to benefit from changing employment patterns, particularly following COVID-19.
The facility will be housed in a flexible, energy efficient office building, on the Central Car Park site on Central Way in Workington. This will be part of a wider planned regeneration of this major town centre site, designed to augment and extend the existing town centre. Other uses for the site are likely to include housing, café/restaurant provision and community facilities.
Port of Workington
The Port of Workington is a key asset for the town and has the potential for expansion and growth. The Towns Fund offers the opportunity to enhance the role that the port plays in the local economy by bringing forward new development land there, and on the Oldside site, to its north.
As a key landowner Cumberland Council will develop serviced land around the Port and at Oldside, allowing it become a key location for the logistics and the clean energy sector within west Cumbria.
These are sectors where Workington and the wider region already excels, and this investment will support new jobs and help place the town further at the heart of the national government’s clean growth agenda.
Digital skills programme
In today’s economy digital skills are no longer optional. Employers report significant numbers of difficult to fill vacancies due to the lack of general or specific digital skills.
This project will secure the provision of high level, specific digital skills – the skills required to build a career. These are the skills that employers report a difficulty in sourcing and identify as the skills required to drive productivity growth. Crucially these are also the skills that will provide resilience in a turbulent labour market.
Workington benefits from a range of high quality institutions within the Cumbria skills system. These institutions deliver a range skills interventions to young people, adults and employers in the area building the workforce that employers need now and in the future.
This project builds on the breadth of the skills offer in the area and focuses on addressing what is widely considered one of the most significant skills challenges facing the economy – digital skills.
The Workington Digital Accelerator will be an investment in a high quality skills cluster within existing facilities to provide Workington with an axis for the delivery of high level, specific digital skills which can be summarised as follows:
- data analysis, curation and visualisation
- cybesecurity
- client relationship management (CRM)
- digital design and marketing
- machining and manufacturing technology
In addition, the Workington Digital Accelerator will look to promote the acquisition of baseline digital skills as a route into employment and digital skills as a driver of enterprise and entrepreneurialism.
Consultation
Several stages of consultation have taken place throughout the Towns Fund programme. Local residents, businesses and visitors could make initial suggestions for the scheme through the myTowns website run by the government.
In September 2020, a larger-scale public consultation took place allowing interested parties to comment on the projects that were being suggested to be put forward for inclusion. The response to the consultation has been overwhelmingly positive. Over 500 responses were received which demonstrated a good level of support for all of the projects.
The majority of respondents (more than 50%) either agreed or strongly agreed with each of the projects.
Town Deal Board and documents
You can view information about the Town Deal Board and download related documents.
Governance documents
Board agendas and minutes
Workington Board members
Meet the Town Deal Board members and download their register of interests.
Chair of Workington Town Deal Board - John Coughlan
John Coughlan is an award-winning executive, board leader, and Doctor of Business Administration with over two decades of transformative leadership across manufacturing, engineering, healthcare, and public sector governance.
As former CEO of TSP Engineering and Global President of UpRight International, he has steered complex organisations through strategic realignment, operational excellence, and cultural transformation. John’s governance portfolio spans NHS Trusts, LEPs, and educational institutions, where he has served as Chair, NED, and Trustee, championing ethical leadership and values-driven strategy.
His academic foundation includes a Doctorate in Business, an MBA, LLM in Business Law, and advanced certification in disruptive strategy from Harvard. John's Doctorate in Business Administration focused on organisational culture and strategic alignment.
A Fellow of both the Institute of Directors and the Institute of Manufacturing, John combines rigorous academic insight with boardroom pragmatism. He now advises organisations on decoding and embedding culture to unlock strategic advantage and improved profitability, drawing on his research and lived experience to foster alignment, resilience, and purpose-led performance.
Anthony Wareing (Workington Heritage Group)
Anthony Wareing was born and has lived in Workington all his life, giving him valuable knowledge of the town’s areas, cultures and heritage.
After completing an apprenticeship as a design draughtsman at a large local engineering company, his career continued in local engineering. He became owner and Managing Director of West Cumberland Engineering Ltd and later served as Construction Director for Shepley Engineers Ltd.
Academically, Anthony was educated locally in engineering, ultimately earning an MSc from Cranfield Institute of Technology.
He has been actively involved in many community organisations, including serving as a governor of local education establishments, a member of the Rotary Club of Workington, and a member of the Workington Community Emergency Response Group. For the past 15 years, Anthony has chaired the Workington Heritage Group, which manages the Helena Thompson Museum. He is also a retired Justice of the Peace, having served in West Cumbria for almost 20 years.
David Taylor (Allerdale Investment Partnership)
Born and educated in the south of Scotland, David qualified as an architect and urban planner in the early 1970s. He has worked extensively across the private, public and voluntary sectors and was the founding CEO of Lancashire Enterprises, AMEC Developments and English Partnerships.
He has built, developed and sold several companies in the green and environmental sectors. His experience includes serving on the boards of the Manchester Commonwealth Games and London 2012, as well as acting as Deputy Chairman of Preston North End for 35 years.
From 2014 to 2023, he was Chairman of UCLan. He served as High Sheriff of Lancashire in 2023–24 and is currently Chairman of the Employment Advisory Board at HMP Kirkham.
Councillor Michael Heaslip (Workington Town Council)
Michael has chaired the Environment Committee of Workington Council since 2023. Previously, from 2011 to 2019, he served as Executive Member for Environmental Quality at Allerdale Council.
Since 2015, he has been Chair of Westlakes Research Ltd, part of the University of Lancashire group. The organisation funds research into social inclusion, health, culture and public policy governance at the West Cumberland campus near Whitehaven.
He spent 30 years working in local government in West Cumbria as a policy officer, focusing on employment, economic development and sustainable communities strategies and programmes.
A longtime company secretary of Workington RFC (Zebras), he attended school in Workington before graduating from Manchester University in 1973.
Mike Renouf (Christ Central Workington, Churches Together in Workington and District)
Mike Renouf is leader of Christ Central in Workington, which meets at the Bridge Centre in Central Square, a church of around 150 people of which about 70% are international and nearly half are under 18. Mike has been in leadership of charismatic and Pentecostal churches since the 1980s, while also in mostly full-time employment until retiring from professional work in 2021.
Mike was in radiation instruments R&D in physics and engineering for 20+ years, living in Reading, before joining Sellafield for 20+ years as a radiation protection specialist and advisor. He is Fellow of both The Institute of Physics and The Society for Radiological Protection.
Mike and his wife Fiona and family moved to Cumbria in 1998 and, from early on, always felt drawn to Workington. They moved to the town in 2007 and have been key members of Churches Together in Workington & District and have wanted to serve the town and its communities as best possible, eg Fiona has been manager of the North Lakes Foodbank distribution centre at the Bridge Centre for the last 13 years. Mike has been part of the Twinning Association for the last 10 years, particularly with links to our French twin, Val de Reuil, and part of the Carnegie Singers for the last 2+ years. He and Fiona want our town to prosper in every way.
Councillor Denise Rollo (Cumberland Council)
After leaving school, Denise began her career in local government. She has since built extensive experience in the public sector and now works as a consultant.
Denise helps public sector organisations navigate complex challenges and deliver effective solutions. She specialises in strategic infrastructure and regeneration projects that drive economic growth and sustainability.
Her role as a member of Cumberland Council has been focused on delivering projects that strengthen infrastructure and supports economic growth and connectivity for residents.
Councillor Barbara Cannon (Cumberland Council)
Barbara was brought up in St Michael’s (Workington), the Ward that she now represents on Cumberland Council since its formation in 2023. Barbara is currently Portfolio Holder for Financial Planning and Assets on the authority. Barbara has a wealth of experience having been a Councillor for over 30 years in all tiers of Local Government.
Barbara worked for the West Cumbria Development Agency in the late 1980s helping young people to set up in business. She worked at Cumbria TEC as an Education Manager working with Careers Services on work experience, and with education business partnerships. Barbara ran a transitional European programme with employers and Further Educational Colleges across Europe.
Barbara has sat on the Board of Workington Regeneration for the past nine years.
Councillor Mark Fryer (Leader of Cumberland Council)
Mark Fryer is the Leader of Cumberland Council. He has extensive experience in local government, having served as a councillor for Allerdale Borough Council on two occasions, from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2019. During this time, he held senior leadership roles, including Leader and Deputy Leader of the council. On 5 May 2022, he was elected to represent St John’s and Great Clifton ward in Workington on Cumberland Council and has been involved in local politics across Allerdale for most of his adult life.
Alongside his council role, Mark runs CRL, a recycling business established as a social enterprise in 2008. The organisation collects and processes materials for recycling and trades recycled goods, with profits reinvested to support employee development, provide employment opportunities, protect the environment, and make affordable electrical goods available to the local community.
Mark Fell
Mark Fell is an education professional with over 20 years’ experience in senior leadership roles. A qualified physical education teacher, he also has a strong background in sport and business and is a director of Barrow‑based teamwear company 17Sport Ltd.
Mark joined Lakes College in December 2025 as Chief Executive and Principal, having previously held the role of Executive Principal at Milton Keynes College.
Josh Macalister (Member of Parliament)
Josh MacAlister OBE MP is Minister for Children and Families and has been MP for Whitehaven and Workington since 2024.
Having started his career as a teacher through the Teach First programme, Josh founded charity Frontline, a graduate social worker training programme, in 2013 and chaired the 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. Josh went on to co-found SHiFT, an initiative breaking the cycle of children caught in or at risk of harm and was awarded an OBE for services to children’s social care in 2023.