Carlisle Labour Party

University crisis - Boaden seeks clarification of Caldew Riverside

		By Carlisle Labour Party in General Published: Friday, 05 February 10 - 07:47 AM (GMT) Last Updated: Friday, 05 February 10 - 07:55 AM (GMT)

Councillor Michael Boaden, Leader of the Labour Group on Carlisle City Council has called on Council Leader, Mike Mitchelson to urgently clarify the position with regard to the Caldew Riverside site. 

Reacting to the news that University of Cumbria have made it clear that they have no intention of proceeding with any plans for a Headquarters in that area, Cllr Boaden said:

‘Although disappointed about this setback to establishment of the University HQ in Carlisle, I am pleased that the Board have clarified their position and I wish them well in their efforts to address the serious current difficulties and establish a stronger, fit for purpose institution. 

However the decision does inevitably lead to a series of questions which must be answered urgently by the Leader of the Council. 

Firstly we need to know the position with monies spent and potentially committed to the remediation of the land. The Leader of the Council said earlier in the week that this work would continue. 

Is this correct and sensible given that it is my understanding that the support from the North West Development Agency was conditional on development plans being proceeded with? Also in the light of the University decision will the Council now have to repay the money already received and spent? And if not what is the purpose of spending further considerable sums of public money on remediation of land which is not now to be developed in the foreseeable future? 

Secondly what is the position with the discussions involving Tesco, who have an interest in land in the area? The City Council leadership passed responsibility for leading these discussions over to Carlisle Renaissance. This was a bad move with the potential to lead to a bad deal for the people of the City and these negotiations must be ended and the prospect of some kind of land swap involving the land allocated for a supermarket at Morton must be halted immediately. As the Labour Group has called for consistently for many months there must now be open competition for the disposal of land at Morton. 

Finally given that securing the position  of the University on Caldew Riverside was one of the limited priorities of Carlisle Renaissance, is it possible to ask them to immediately switch their focus to the ‘people’s priorities’ of sorting out Botchergate and getting on with helping to establish a Theatre for Carlisle.’

Mr Boaden is the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Carlisle.