Carlisle's flood-hit Newman School could find a new home on the southern edge of the city.

Negotiations are continuing to secure a new location to replace its city centre site.

Cumbria County Council's cabinet has agreed to give £3m to help secure land necessary for a new multi-million pound building project.

The authority has revealed that land at Blackwell has been identified as a potential site for the replacement school.

The News & Star understands it is a greenfield site.

Cumbria County Council, which has a statutory obligation to ensure there are sufficient school places locally, has been involved in the efforts to secure a new site for the school.

Council leader Stewart Young said: "The negotiations are ongoing to acquire a site.

"Cumbria County Council is fully supporting the Diocese of Lancaster and all the parties involved. We've also been working with (city MP) John Stevenson.

"This all comes back to when the then Education Secretary Nicky Morgan visited Carlisle in the weeks after the floods and among the schools she visited was Newman in Lismore Place."

He added: "I would hope that we might reach a conclusion in the next month or so but I know these things do take time."

Headteacher John McAuley said: "Everyone is working really hard to secure a future site for the school and as soon as I have got any news and things are finalised I will let all of the school community know."

Newman School - Carlisle's only Catholic secondary school - was forced from Lismore Place when it was swamped by floodwaters up to 7ft deep during Storm Desmond.

Its staff and 650-plus students have been working out of temporary accommodation at the former Pennine Way Primary School in Silverdale Road, Harraby since January 2016.

Newman School is also using sports facilities at the neighbouring Harraby Community Campus and students have been sitting their exams in an old community centre a few yards away.

It is the second time in a decade that Newman School has been flooded.

A year ago Mike Shovlin, chairman of the school's governing body, told sister paper The Cumberland News that the government had agreed in principle to fund a new school.

Plans for a development costing in the region of £17m have been drawn up and a feasibility study to confirm that a new school can be built cost effectively has been completed.

Canon Peter Hart, a trustee at the Diocese of Lancaster, said: "The trustees and their officers are continuing to work hard to secure the appropriate level of funding to ensure the best possible future for Newman School.

"We are working together with the staff and governors of the school as equal partners so that the new Newman School will be the best it can possibly be for the children of its catchment area.

"Discussions with all the relevant agencies are ongoing."