Dozens of road gritters, gully-emptiers, pick-up trucks and verge cutters will be on the move this summer as they relocate to a new home.
Cumbria County Council has now completed the sale of its Sullart Street depot in Cockermouth, which has been the Allerdale home of Cumbria Highways, the highways maintenance partnership between Cumbria County Council, Capita Symonds and Amey Infrastructure Services. The partnership will be relocated to a new £1.25m depot at Lillyhall, with the move scheduled to be completed by mid-July.
Adlington has purchased the 1.89 ha (4.66 acre) Sullart Street site with outline planning permission for residential development for an undisclosed sum.
The company is currently in pre-planning application discussions with Allerdale Borough Council, the Local Planning Authority, as regards their plans for the Sullart Street site.
Councillor Joan Stocker, Cumbria County Council's Cabinet member responsible for resources, said: "Completing the sale of Sullart Street is the final piece in the jigsaw which will allow for a new high-tech home to monitor and maintain the county's roads. Proceeds from the sale of the depot will pay for the new facilities at Lillyhall and the remainder will go into the council's central budget to help pay for capital schemes which meet the council's priorities."
Peter Lynas from Adlington said: "We are delighted to have acquired this piece of land in such a desirable location –it represents a very exciting opportunity. We will now be working with Allerdale Borough Council on our comprehensive development proposals for the site."
Notes
Cumbria County Council's property agent, Capita, handled the sale and invited offers in excess of £3.5m for the Sullart Street depot.
Sullart Street has been home to the men and women looking after parts of Cumbria's highways network for many years - Cumbria County Council inherited the site in 1974 when the council began its life. But its predecessor, Cumberland County Council, had by then been using it for some years.
When complete, the new Lillyhall depot will be the operational base for the area’s highways work, including the winter gritting programme, the highways response teams who tackle faults and defects and attend accident scenes as well as the day-to-day work of maintaining the roads and pavements.
The Sullart Street site currently has planning permission for a minimum of 76 residential properties with a requirement for 25% to be affordable local only housing units.
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