By Julian Whittle

Last updated at 11:38, Saturday, 06 February 2010

Carlisle Renaissance’s plans to regenerate the city’s derelict Viaduct Estate are in disarray.

Bryan Gray

Related: Carlisle Renaissance branded a ‘scandalous waste’ of money

First the University of Cumbria said that its proposals for a campus are on hold for at least 10 years and might be scrapped altogether.

Then the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) announced that it would not stump up the £3.8 million needed to clean up the area until an “end-user” was confirmed.

The clean-up must be completed before any development takes place.

It had been hoped the work would start on the derelict site this year, but there is now a huge question mark hanging over Viaduct Estate – also known as Caldew Riverside – and what will happen to it.

City council leader Mike Mitchelson believes the authority may have to go back to the drawing board.

He said: “That site is an important one, which we need to bring into a position for redevelopment.

“We have to go back and take stock and look at how it can be developed.

“Obviously, we will have to look at some other tenant if the university isn’t going there.”

Viaduct Estate lies between the city centre and the River Caldew and was identified as an early priority for redevelopment when Carlisle Renaissance was set up after the city’s 2005 floods.

Initial plans involved a waterside development of bars, apartments and offices.

Mr Mitchelson says that scheme could be revived.

The university campus was to have included a theatre/arts centre for the city.

And the city council was close to agreeing a deal with Tesco to vacate land earmarked for a supermarket to create more room for the university. It is not clear whether that deal will fall through too.

The university originally hoped to open a £70m campus in autumn 2011, which would have replaced its sites in Brampton Road and Paternoster Row.

Mounting financial problems led it to scale back those proposals to a “phased development” beginning in 2013.

Now the Venerable Peter Ballard, chairman of its board of directors, says the scheme may be scrapped altogether.

In any event, nothing will happen before 2020.

He said: “The university will not be taking up the offer of building on Caldew Riverside for the next 10 years.

“The national cap on student numbers means that we had to review our original assumptions and take some tough decisions about how we operate in the future.”

The NWDA had been due to release funding for the clean-up but is not prepared to do so without guarantees that the land will be developed.

The area is a former gas works and is contaminated with toxic substances including arsenic, boron, benzene, naphthalene and phenol.

Steve Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA, has hinted that it might still provide the £3.8m needed if another user can be found.

He said: “Our strong preference is to remediate Caldew Riverside when it is clear there is a confirmed end-user.

“It is a strategic investment site in the heart of Carlisle.”

Critics of Carlisle Renaissance have seized on the latest turn of events.

Michael Boaden, leader of the opposition Labour group on the city council and the party’s Parliamentary candidate for Carlisle, said: “It would appear that the flagship project of Carlisle Renaissance is dead.

“This was supposed to be the year of delivery. Six weeks into 2010 and the top priority is off the agenda.”

But Renaissance chairman Bryan Gray refuses to admit defeat. He believes the university can still be persuaded to move into Viaduct Estate.

“I think we carry on as planned, frankly,” he said.

“Whatever happens, that site needs to be developed for the benefit of Carlisle.

“I’m hopeful that the university will be able to procure it sooner than it thinks. The key thing is to be ready.

“We are going to work with the NWDA and we’re both confident that there will be a use. I’m hopeful it will be the university.

“It is an important site for the city, a once-in-a-generation opportunity and we must not lose it because of short-term economic problems.”

First published at 09:00, Saturday, 06 February 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk