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Cumberland Council has started its winter gritting season with a precautionary treatment of key routes, around a week earlier than in each of the last two years, and is urging people to get ready for colder weather.
Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister says social media claims that the former Commercial Hotel on High Street, Cleator Moor, will house asylum seekers are false, and that Serco has confirmed there are no such plans.
Story Contracting, the firm building Cleator Moor's new Community Hub, is offering labour, materials and expertise to local not-for-profit groups. Applications close at noon on 2 January 2027.
Richardson's Fine Wines and Coffee Merchants, a Whitehaven business since 1995, will close on 31 December. Owner Gerard Richardson says the priority now is selling the remaining stock.
Cumberland Council has found the money to keep the MD1 bus between Maryport and Dearham running through November and December 2026, after it had been earmarked for cuts.
Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners have reopened the west pier now the storm-damaged cable has been recovered. The lighthouse isn't working yet, and the pier will close again when the cable is replaced.
Cumbria Police recorded 23 vehicle thefts or unauthorised takings in Workington in 2025/26, down from 29 the year before, but still the most of seven west Cumbrian places. Police are urging owners to lock up and keep keys out of sight.
Athepius Ltd has applied to Cumberland Council to put an eight-person sauna on part of the harbour car park between Senhouse Dock and the River Ellen.
John Swift Homes has applied to demolish Well Head Farm on Shawbank Brow in Dean and build 13 homes. A viability report says the scheme cannot include affordable housing. Comments are open until 4 December.
Sellafield Ltd is recruiting Commissioning Test Engineers on £51,312 a year, with applications closing on Monday 9 November, while contractors including Bechtel, Amentum and the National Nuclear Laboratory also have West Cumbria vacancies.
84 properties on Brigham Road in Cockermouth lost water on 5 November after the latest in a series of failures. United Utilities says the main will be replaced, with work expected early next year.
M&L Richardson and Sons, the family firm behind Frizington's Spar, says plans for an expanded community store and new forecourt have been given the go-ahead, as it celebrates growing from one A69 garage to 11 sites.
Police in Workington are reviewing a video shared online that appears to show a lit firework being dropped near spectators at the community bonfire on Westfield Drive, Mossbay, on Thursday night.
Two Maryport businessmen are redeveloping the Grade II-listed former Navy Club on South Quay as a restaurant and bar with upstairs accommodation, aiming to open the restaurant and kitchen by summer 2027. The building, once the Ship Inn, has been closed since 2019.
A First World War Roll of Honour board in Vulcan Park, Workington, has been damaged in an act of vandalism days before Remembrance Sunday. Workington Town Council says a replacement is being arranged but will not be ready for this weekend's events.
Ofsted has rated The Elms, a Workington short-breaks home for children with learning disabilities run by West Cumbria Care and Support, as requires improvement to be good after a September inspection. The provider and Cumberland Council say improvement work is under way.
The DIY chain Wickes says its new Workington branch on Annie Pit Lane, in the former Poundstretcher unit on Clay Flatts Trading Estate, will open on Thursday 11 December. Signs were approved in October and the store has been recruiting.
The oldest part of Gosforth Public Hall, dating from 1628 and Grade II* listed, has been stabilised after a £547,000 first phase of repairs and can come off Historic England's Heritage at Risk register. Work on the 1930s main hall is now under way.
Cumberland Council has opened an informal engagement exercise on library services in Seaton, asking how the library is used, what people value and what would bring more people in. It runs until Monday 30 November, with drop-in sessions on 18 and 19 November.
Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners say West Pier will stay closed while they plan the careful recovery of a power cable weighing up to two tonnes that Storm Boelo ripped out. Getting power back to the lighthouse is the priority, and most people ignoring the signs have been adults.
A nine-week consultation on the draft management plan for the Solway Coast National Landscape is open until Monday 4 January 2027. The plan will guide how the protected coast is looked after from 2027 to 2032.
Cumberland Council officers visited 51 businesses in Whitehaven and Workington as part of Operation Impact, finding planning, waste and food safety issues. The council says more towns are next.
The six-week closure of the C2030 at Ullock Bridge, due to start on Monday 2 November, has been called off at short notice. Cumberland Council says the strengthening work will now be rescheduled for early next year.
Full Cumberland Council meets at 1pm on Tuesday 3 November at the Civic Centre in Carlisle. Councillors will ask about agency staff costs, the new finance system, call waiting times, faded road markings and road and rail links to West Cumbria.
About 50.86 hectares of foreshore at Lowca will be auctioned in Carlisle on Wednesday 9 December by Auction House Cumbria, with Edwin Thompson. VAT is payable on the sale price.
The road is shut for about six weeks while United Utilities replaces 4km of water mains. A Branthwaite firm and Dean Parish Council say the diversion via Gilgarran is too narrow for lorries. UU and the council say it is suitable.
Cumberland Council has granted permission to turn buildings at Mawbray Hayrigg, home of the former Gincase farm park near Silloth, into a play barn, café, shop and visitor facilities with parking. The new owners plan to reopen the café first, then indoor soft play.
The Cleator Moor lofts destroyed by fire in July, killing hundreds of racing pigeons, have been rebuilt on the same site this week after fundraising by the Cleator Moor Central club reached £22,000.
Cumberland Council is restarting pavement reconstruction and road patching on Buttermere Avenue on Monday 2 November, weather permitting, with the road closed for up to five weeks. Walkers keep access and residents will be let through when it is safe.
From Monday 2 November the X4 and X5 keep running every 30 minutes between Workington, Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith from Monday to Saturday, with late Friday and Saturday buses and Boxing Day services on some West Cumbria routes.
Penrith and Solway MP Markus Campbell-Savours told MPs the building was bought for £51,000 in 2022 but its owner's accounts list £248,000 of fixed assets, and asked for a debate on how small companies value property.
A week's worth of donations for Hospice at Home West Cumbria was taken from Philip Pattinson's wrestling-themed Halloween display on Thursday morning. He and his wife plan to keep fundraising.
The Environment Agency has cleared vegetation from Allonby Beck after residents and their MP raised concerns about blockages and flood risk. It says it will also deal with the Beach Cut, where the beck runs out to sea.
Cockermouth Town Council's annual fireworks display is at the Memorial Gardens on Sunday 1 November from 5pm to 7pm. Separately, Copeland Police say youths in the Egremont area have been throwing fireworks at vehicles and each other.
From Monday 2 November the Cockermouth C123 town service becomes the C1, C2 and C3, a new C4 links Papcastle with the town centre, and the 68 to Maryport carries on with some new journey times. All five will be run by Stagecoach.
Cumberland Council has relaunched its gritter naming competition for five new vehicles joining the fleet this winter. Suggestions close on Friday 13 November, and winning schools get a visit from a newly named gritter.
No new flood warnings or alerts were issued for Cumberland overnight, and the coast from Gretna to Haverigg stays clear. A river and lake flood warning remains at Keswick Campsite, with flood alerts on the Upper Derwent, the Lakes rivers and North Morecambe Bay. Correct at 05:43 on Wednesday 28 October.
Flemings Shore, about 26.9 acres of freehold coastal land and foreshore at Flimby, is being sold by Paul Fosh Auctions in an online sale from 10 to 12 November. The particulars suggest uses from beach racing and film shoots to wind turbines, though any of them would need consents.
Storm Boelo has dislodged and damaged several roof slates around the vents at Haig Colliery in Whitehaven, not long after roof repairs were finished. The community-run heritage centre is asking for scaffolders, roofers, joiners and funders to help.
Cumberland Council is holding its annual Christmas memorial services at Distington Hall Crematorium on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 December at 6.30pm. Places are free but must be booked, and names for the on-screen tribute must be in by 30 November.
Cumberland Council's contractor will resurface the footways on the B5345 Main Street and Egremont Road in St Bees from Monday 2 November, under a 24-hour road closure. Buses will be diverted, and in the final phase they will turn back at St Bees Beach.
Energy firm AMP has applied to Cumberland Council for five micro battery storage schemes on small plots beside electricity substations. A noise study puts the units at 47.8 decibels a metre away, dropping quickly with distance.
Two tenders have been published for the next stage of decommissioning the Windscale Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor at Sellafield: a strip-out and enabling works contract worth £10m to £20m, and the demolition of its old office block and turbine hall worth £2.5m to £5m.
The former home of Hartley's Ice Cream at 24 Church Street, Egremont, is on the market for £350,000. The site includes the old shop and parlour, a three-bedroom house, two let flats, outbuildings and a yard with possible room for development.
Cumberland Council says the final stage of its Central Way Active Travel Scheme, carriageway resurfacing, will now take place overnight for up to six nights from Monday 2 November, with the road closed from 8.30pm to 4am. Daytime temporary lights stay until 30 October.
Cumberland Council will fully close the C2030 at Ullock Bridge from Monday 2 November for about six weeks while it strengthens the bridge with a reinforced concrete saddle. There will be no access at any time, including for people on foot.
A dog walker and his Belgian Malinois were rescued from a sea cave on the shore between Workington and Salterbeck on Monday morning, after the incoming tide trapped them. Coastguard rope rescuers lowered a technician down the cliff to bring them both up unhurt.
Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners have closed West Pier to the public after Storm Boelo tore out the power cable that runs along it. The pier will stay shut while the cable is recovered from the water, and the commissioners say that will not be quick.
October's full moon, the Hunter's Moon, was exactly full at 4.11am on Monday 26 October and rises over West Cumbria at about 4.20pm tonight. Cloud may get in the way this evening, but it will still look nearly full later in the week. Here are the dates for every full moon into 2027, plus tips for photographing it on your phone.
Licensed hackney carriages in Cumberland rose from 226 to 367 and private hire vehicles from 100 to 265 between 2023/24 and 2025/26. The council links the rise to its single licensing policy, and its local knowledge test is currently suspended.
Maryport Coastguard Rescue Team was called to Flimby beach over the weekend, where a juvenile northern bottlenose whale was found dead. People are asked not to touch the carcass because it may carry toxins.
A large section of the wall around the entrance porch at St Paul's Church, Seaton, collapsed in Storm Boelo. Sunday's service was cancelled on safety grounds and the vicar hopes to reopen with another way in.
SP Electricity North West has set a worst-case restoration time of 6pm on Tuesday 27 October for homes still cut off by Storm Boelo. On Sunday evening 1,528 properties in Allerdale and 901 in Copeland were without power.
The Met Office amber wind warning for Cumbria lasts until 9pm on Sunday 25 October after a night of fallen trees and local flooding. Rail services are still disrupted, and a new yellow wind warning covers Tuesday 27 October.
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner David Allen has set out where Cumbria's 26 new community beat officers will work. West Cumbria gets six: two in Workington and one each in Maryport, Cleator Moor, Egremont and south Whitehaven.
With the clocks back an hour and darkness now falling around 5pm, mountain rescue teams are urging walkers to carry a head torch. A cold, exhausted walker was found in Upper Eskdale early on Saturday after rescuers spotted his flashing torch.
Northern now says the Cumbrian Coast line between Carlisle and Whitehaven will close from 6.30pm on Saturday 24 October because of high winds, earlier than the 9pm first announced. No replacement buses will run.
Cumberland Council's contract for the MD1 ended on Thursday 29 October. The council says it intends to keep the bus running until the end of December, but only if a short procurement exercise works out, and it has not yet confirmed that. The other West Cumbria supported routes keep their funding for 2026/27.
Cumberland Council is spending £2.89 million on supported bus contracts for 2026/27. Routes including the 22/22A, 32, 1/1A, 30, 60, 68, 300 and 600 keep their funding, but support for the MD1 ends, with a stopgap planned to the end of December.
The Met Office has upgraded its Storm Boelo warning for Cumbria to amber, from 9pm on Saturday to 9pm on Sunday, with gusts of 60 to 70mph and up to 80mph on exposed coasts. A wider yellow warning starts at midday on Saturday.
Cumberland Council's highways and transport staff are wearing pink on Friday 23 October for Breast Cancer Now's Wear It Pink day, and the council is buying an 18-tonne pink gritter that will join its fleet in 2027.
Cumberland Council's parking report for 2025/26 lists six West Cumbria streets in its top 20 for parking tickets, led by Murray Road in Workington with 283. The council issued 25,824 tickets in all.
A review of Cumberland Council's roadworks permit scheme, heard by its highways board on 22 October, found the average length of works fell from 3.9 days to 2.8 days, and the total time works took up the roads fell by 28%.
Morgan Sindall Infrastructure degree apprentices Lyla Chandler and Ellie Telford, both former students, led the building of a teaching structure inside a workshop at Energy Coast UTC in Lillyhall, finishing on time and under budget.
The Cumbrian charity Every Life Matters has appointed a specialist practitioner to support four to 21-year-olds in Cumberland affected by suicide, expanding a service it already runs in Westmorland and Furness.
Workington marked the start of the Royal British Legion's poppy appeal with a two-minute silence in the town centre on Thursday, attended by the mayor, Councillor Sue Fryer. The town's Remembrance parade is on Sunday 8 November.
The Met Office has a yellow wind warning for all of Cumbria from 6pm on Saturday 24 October to 9pm on Sunday 25 October, with gusts of 55 to 65mph and possibly 70 to 80mph on exposed coasts.
Cumberland Council's planning committee has refused plans for six houses and a block of 10 flats at the former Cumbria Fire and Rescue headquarters on Station Road, Cockermouth, against officers' advice, over the impact on red squirrels.
Ben and Carmina started selling bakes at the TEG Markets in 2022 and opened the Howling Wolf café under the Beacon in 2023; its cinnamon buns are now a local favourite, but rising costs make winter a worry.
Cumberland Council has extended its Call for Sites, which asks people to put forward land for development or protection in the new Cumberland Local Plan, to 30 November 2026.
Story Homes has asked Cumberland Council about a scheme of up to 160 homes on grazing land north-east of Main Road in High Harrington, starting with 145, and the council says a full environmental assessment is not needed.
UCU members at Lakes College in Workington have voted to enter a formal dispute over workload, stress and timetable changes, warning industrial action could follow; the college says talks are ongoing.
A community owl box project that started at Longlands Lake near Cleator Moor has now put up more than 50 boxes across Cumbria, after a West Cumbria Rivers Trust post about craftsman Robert Stephenson.
Copeland Police say the speed camera van has been to Distington 11 times this year, leading to 22 Notices of Intended Prosecution, and enforcement will continue.
Thomas Armstrong Construction Ltd has applied to build 51 houses and bungalows at Flosh Meadows, Cleator, on land where three schemes totalling 47 homes were already approved.
Joan Kirkwood McDowell, 84, of the Workington and Whitehaven RNLI fundraising branch, has received a 50-year Long Service Award for supporting lifeboat crews since 1975.
Two men have been charged with attempted murder after a man in his 30s was seriously injured at Ewanrigg Lonning, Maryport, on 16 October. Police are appealing for witnesses and doorbell or dashcam footage.
A free Level 2 course in support work in schools and colleges starts on Monday 9 November, with sessions online or at System People's offices in Workington and Carlisle and a route on to its supply register.
Cumberland Council will start installing 30 fingerposts, five map boards and six community notice boards across Workington town centre in late October.
Cumberland Council has scheduled a five-day full closure of Central Way in Workington from Monday 19 October so the road can be resurfaced as part of the Central Way Active Travel Scheme.
A member of the public will ask Cumberland Council's highways and transport strategic board on Thursday 22 October to commit to a significantly lower, enforceable speed limit on the A596 through Crosby, near Maryport.
Workington Royal British Legion is holding a veterans' café on Tuesday 20 October from 10.30am, with free breakfast and coffee, housing and benefits advice, and activities for children.
Martin Birch, Cumberland Council's director of children and family wellbeing, has left the council. Chris Jones-King is taking on the responsibility on an interim basis.
Days after Calder Hall's 70th anniversary, Sellafield Ltd has asked Cumberland Council about demolishing Turbine Hall B, a redundant building at the old power station, in work expected to run from November 2026 to November 2031.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation says lessons from a 2022 overexposure were not properly put in place before the same Magnox Reprocessing Plant worker took in a further 9.8mSv dose in October 2025, though it ruled out enforcement action.
The Rack Shack snooker and pool venue on Quay Street, Whitehaven, has applied to Cumberland Council for a change of use so it can add six to eight full-size ten-pin bowling lanes, aiming to open them in March 2027.
Cumberland Council is consulting on replacing council-arranged taxis and minibuses for eligible post-16 SEND students with a payment based on the cost of a bus pass. Nothing has been decided, and the consultation closes on 20 November.
A Cumberland Council report says funding will not stretch to every bus service it supported this year. Councillors meet on Thursday 22 October and are being asked to find up to £235,000 to keep three routes, including the MD1 between Maryport and Dearham.
The discount department store TJ Hughes is opening its first Egremont branch in the former Original Factory Shop unit. It is due to open before the end of November and is recruiting up to 15 staff.
Cumberland Council has given permission to turn the function room and manager's flat above Paddy's at 41 Washington Street, Workington, into three holiday lets. The bar on the ground floor stays.
St John's Church on Washington Street, Workington, has been awarded £708,310 from the government's Places of Worship Renewal Fund to repair its stone tower after chunks of masonry fell into the churchyard. Work is due to start later this year.
Enabling works have started at Borough Park in Workington, the site of the planned shared stadium for Workington AFC and Workington Town. The works should take about three months.
A 480-metre stretch of the C4017 near Cleator Moor will close from Monday 19 October, expected until 13 November, for United Utilities water works, with a signed diversion via Cold Fell, Rowrah and Frizington.
Aldi says its new store on the former East Road Esso garage site in Egremont is due to open in early December, creating up to 40 jobs.
Cumberland Council is replacing worn-out play equipment at Kells in Whitehaven and Orgill in Egremont, and wants residents' views by Thursday 5 November.
Hensingham Amateur Rugby League Club in Whitehaven has applied to Cumberland Council for a new building with four team changing rooms, saying its current facilities are outdated and too small after strong growth in junior and girls' rugby.
Cumberland Council has been shortlisted for Campaign of the Year at the 2026 MRW National Recycling Awards, for a February-to-June digital campaign made with local agency Quokka. Winners are announced in London on 1 December.
Cumbria Fostering has launched a recruitment campaign for foster carers, including for siblings, teenagers and children who need a long-term home. Information events run from 13 to 22 October. Details are at cumbriafostering.org.uk.
Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council have opened a public questionnaire on local bus services, as part of the Cumbria Bus Reform Pilot Study. It runs until midnight on Sunday 25 October. Remaining drop-ins include Penrith, Carlisle, Keswick and Workington.
The Environment Agency has approved a permit change for Recycling Lives on Isabella Road, Workington, raising its hazardous waste storage limit to 5,000 tonnes so it can sort waste batteries, while cutting the total waste it can take each year.
Viberoptix, part of the Fibrus Group, has been named Infrastructure Builder of the Year for connecting more than 146,000 homes and businesses across Cumbria to full fibre. The award was given at Connected Britain in London.
Cumberland Council's Highways Team is checking and refilling around 2,000 grit bins. Each bin now has a unique sticker number. Report a low one at cumberland.gov.uk/roads or on 0300 373 3736.
Cumberland Council has submitted a planning application to replace floodlighting at Workington Hall in Curwen Park with low-level, ground-mounted uplighters.
Danny Rodgers lost 300 pigeons in a fire at a Cleator Moor allotment on 17 July. A fundraiser to rebuild the loft he keeps with his father has raised £17,000.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team is recruiting volunteer rescuers. Applications close on 15 September 2026. Details are on wmrt.org.uk, or email recruitment@wmrt.org.uk.
Cumberland Council will replace the deck on the U2093 at Bridekirk Bridge, Bridekirk, near Cockermouth, from Tuesday 1 September 2026. The road will be closed throughout, for about three weeks.
The former cinema on Senhouse Street will begin opening to the public from September 2026, with seven first-floor offices to rent from £344 a month. Performances are planned later in the year.
Cumberland Council will resurface the U4106 Hinnings Road, Distington, from Tuesday 1 September, under a road closure for up to 14 days. The scheme is part of a £27.3 million highways programme.
Cumberland Council has revised Workington Gateway and A66 dates after bad weather — Washington Street, Hall Park View, Hall Brow, Stainburn, Harrington Road and Central Way.
Cumberland Council has appointed Morgan Sindall to build Units 9 and 12 at Leconfield Industrial Estate — available from late 2027, aimed at robotics, manufacturing and digital firms.
Young people across Cumberland collected GCSE results on 20 August. The figures are provisional; council-maintained schools show gains in English and maths, and for disadvantaged pupils.
Community Rail Cumbria, Northern and three day-service groups have put display panels and a leaflet at Coast Line stations after £2,450 from Community Panels.
From 18 August, a national AI system will redirect non-police 101 calls — councils, NHS, power cuts — before they reach Cumbria's queue. Callers can reject the suggestion; doubt goes to the police.
Cumbria Police have received several courier-fraud reports in the past week, including one victim who lost £50,000. They want people to warn older relatives and neighbours.
Cumbria Police have published today's mobile speed camera van locations — including Salterbeck, the A596 between Workington and Aspatria, and the B5300 between Maryport and Silloth.
The real story behind the Workington boiler snake — local testimony, evidence files, and the extraction BBC left out.
Murray Road and Central Way works enter their final stage — with ENWL utility closures from 29 June, overnight resurfacing 6–11 July, and the new Innovation Centre opening Thursday 2 July.
Cumberland Council and Connect Roads will close sections of the A595 and A596 overnight through July — full details on dates, locations, and diversion routes below.