Derwent Forest handover transcript
Allerdale Borough Council and Cumbria County Council officially purchased the Derwent Forest site, a former armaments depot, from the Ministry of Defence for the sum of £1 on 22 August, to market it for redevelopment.
Councillor Joe Milburn, Leader of Allerdale Borough Council, said: “It’s a very significant day, it’s a very important day, not just for Allerdale but for west Cumbria and indeed for Cumbria as a whole, because what we are aiming to do here is to, is to produce a really high quality, high impact development which is of regional importance and will serve to attract a great deal of interest and visitors and so forth into the county as a whole, so it’s a big scheme.
“Well we must immediately and I mean immediately get to, and start the marketing exercise and we have the help of North West Development Agency and so on in this field and we will get on. Previously there were many expressions of interest in the site and we can start if you like by contacting them and re-marketing it, but these are fresh fields now and we will start the vigorous marketing exercise.
Councillor Tony Markley, of Cumbria County Council, said: “It’s a big site, a vast site and the developers, whoever takes it on, it’s the biggest opportunity for England, especially for Cumbria and the north of Allerdale, it’s marvellous.
“North West Development Agency has given us the money to market it and keep the maintenance cost of it for three years, and then we shall put it up for sale in those three years.
“Allerdale Borough Council and ourselves, we will market this, we will sell it and we will make a fantastic opportunity for the area, for the economic development for the County, for Allerdale and everywhere. It’s for the people, it’s such a big site, there’s such a lot of things that can be done with it.”
Geoff Dixon, of the Ministry of Defence, said: “After fifteen years since the site closed and a number of years of working with Allerdale and Cumbria Councils we are absolutely delighted that the sale has gone through at last.
“It’s a very large and complicated site in a beautiful part of the world but trying to find a viable alternative use has been the big problem but now that the development agencies are investing money in marketing I think the MOD is hopeful that the partnership approach that we have adopted, and us handing over the site for a pound, will mean that it can now be redeveloped and generate some new jobs in the area.”