Latest news with #Workington
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cumberland Council approve plans for new property
A NEW property can be built in the Northside area of Workington after planners at Cumberland Council granted initial planning permission. The planning application, which was for outline planning consent with all matters reserved, was for a site in Mitchell Avenue and it was granted subject to planning conditions on Monday (June 23). It was for either two semi-detached properties or one detached house and, according to the officer's report, Workington town council raised no objections to the proposed development. A planning report states: 'The dwellings surrounding the site are served by a mix of on-street and off-street parking, and therefore officers consider either option could be acceptable to serve the dwellings. 'Although given the green to the north, access would need to be from Mitchell Avenue. The existing property has a garden to the front and rear of the property. It is proposed these will be retained. 'Officers consider these to be of appropriately sized amenity area to serve the existing dwelling. The side garden will be developed for housing.' The report states that, in considering the size of the plot, it has the potential to accommodate two properties, although impacts on the adjacent dwellings and their existing windows will need to be considered when designing the dwellings and siting within the plot. It adds: 'The surrounding dwellings are two storey in nature, and therefore subject to design, either single or two storey could be acceptable. 'Officers consider that an appropriate design for the proposed dwelling and boundary treatments can be achieved on site which will protect the amenity of the existing and proposed dwellings.' The report concludes that the principle of building one or two dwellings on the site is considered acceptable and achieves a satisfactory relationship with the surrounding built format of Workington. Because the application was for outline planning permission exact details about the development will be submitted at some point in the future.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Going Nuclear by Tim Gregory: Want to save the planet? GO NUCLEAR
Going Nuclear: How The Atom Will Save The World by Tim Gregory (Bodley Head £25, 384pp) Tim Gregory works in what he calls 'one of the most chemically exotic square miles on the planet'. He is a scientist at the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory at Sellafield. So, it is no surprise that his new book offers a deeply researched and mostly persuasive argument in favour of nuclear power and its benefits. If we want to renounce fossil fuels and clean up our energy systems, 'splitting atoms of uranium inside nuclear reactors is our best bet at reaching net zero by 2050'. Yet, as he acknowledges, profound suspicion of the nuclear industry is rooted in the public mind. And, in what he sees as an ironic contradiction, those people who are most concerned about climate change are the very ones who are least supportive of nuclear power. This anxiety was not always so widespread. In the 1950s, nuclear power was often seen as the future we should happily embrace. In Britain, Calder Hall, the country's first atomic power station, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II 'with pride'. The town of Workington became one of the first in the world where people's washing machines, record players and other electrical appliances were driven by nuclear electricity. It was not only the Queen who was enthused by the then new technology. Gregory tells the oddly charming story of Muriel Howorth, who became a staunch advocate of nuclear power at the age of 62 after reading a book she'd borrowed from her local library. She went on to found the Ladies' Atomic Energy Club and to write a pantomime called Isotopia, which included characters such as Isotope, Neutron and Atom Man. In 1950, it was staged in London with members of the Ladies' Atomic Energy Club playing all the roles. She had hopes of a performance at the Albert Hall but, sadly, this was never to be. A 21st-century Muriel Howorth seems unlikely to emerge. Nuclear power has lost the glamour it may have possessed in the 1950s. It is more likely today to elicit alarm and anxiety. Gregory puts much of contemporary worry about the nuclear industry down to what he calls 'radiophobia' – an irrational fear of radiation. Popular culture has played its part in warping society's perception of the subject. The idea of atomic bombs has become entwined with our notions of the nuclear industry. Gregory endeavours to get beyond the mushroom clouds of our imagination. As he points out, all kinds of unexpected objects are radioactive to some extent. Potassium-40 emits beta and gamma radiation. Bananas and potatoes both contain potassium, so are therefore radioactive. 'Biology,' he notes, 'unfolds against a background of radioactivity.' All of us spend our lives 'bathed in radiation'. The only way we could avoid it would be by adopting a highly impractical programme of not eating, drinking or even breathing. 'You can't have radiation-free anything,' Gregory writes. 'Background radiation is about as ubiquitous and as harmless as it gets.' What about the dangers of nuclear waste and the difficulties of disposing of it? Gregory argues that these are greatly exaggerated. The paraphernalia in his lab – gloves, test-tubes, biros – is all classified as nuclear waste because it comes from Sellafield. Most of it is 'far less radioactive than a banana'. 'Low-level' nuclear waste accounts for just one per cent of the radioactivity in all nuclear waste but 87 per cent of its volume. The most dangerous type of 'high-level' waste, by contrast, represents 0.1 per cent of the total volume of nuclear waste but contains 95 per cent of its radioactivity. All the high-level waste from the past 70 years of the nuclear industry would fit inside a medium-sized concert hall. Figures such as these may well be reassuring, but Gregory is on less sure ground when he turns to the major disasters that have struck the industry over the decades. Again he turns to statistics to argue that we should not be over-anxious. 'Nuclear's safety record is blotted by a small number of rare, high-visibility events,' he acknowledges, but it's 'about as safe as wind and solar, and it's tens or hundreds times safer than fossil fuels'. Air pollution from the latter kills as many people every six hours, Gregory states, as nuclear power has ever done. He acknowledges the seriousness of Chernobyl, which he describes unequivocally as 'the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power', but he argues that we should not overestimate its long-term effects. The accident at Chernobyl happened because of a combination of factors – an unusual design of reactor, operators who broke the rules, Soviet-era corruption – that is extremely unlikely to occur again. He also uses an array of statistics and scientific studies to show fears of ongoing health risks are exaggerated. A study from 2019 found that cancer rates in regions of Ukraine close to Chernobyl were no higher than the national average. Not everyone will buy Gregory's take on Chernobyl, but he's more convincing on the 2011 Fukushima disaster, where an earthquake triggered a tsunami that caused three nuclear units to explode. Twenty thousand people died due to the natural disasters but only one person died as a result of the radiation, and a UN scientific committee found no evidence that the radiation caused an increase in any type of cancer. Arguments over the dangers of nuclear power will continue. What seems inarguable is its potential. There is, Gregory writes, 'as much nuclear energy in a gram of uranium as there is chemical energy in more than a tonne of coal'. If you powered a lightbulb with a gram of coal, it would give you 15 minutes of light; a gram of uranium would light up the bulb for 30 years. As he bluntly states, 'Net zero is impossible without nuclear power.' Renewables such as wind and solar have important roles to play but alone they cannot possibly satisfy a society that needs on-demand electricity. And the demand is growing. Europe today generates a fifth of its electricity from nuclear. It's the biggest source of emissions-free electricity, bigger than solar and wind combined. Gregory reports on what he calls 'the flatpack furniture of the nuclear world' – small modular reactors that take up the space of 5.5 football pitches. He envisages a future in which every large town will have one of these smaller reactors and there will be several in every major city worldwide. 'Nuclear,' he writes, 'will become routine.' Gregory is passionate in his belief that nuclear power will solve the world's energy problems. Not all readers will be so evangelical but his book presents a strong, carefully argued case for his ideas.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Yahoo
Woman prosecuted for riding e-scooter in public says 'store shouldn't sell them'
A WOMAN brought before a court for riding an e-scooter in public without a licence or insurance said the store she bought it from 'shouldn't be allowed to sell them'. Haley Bower, 37, was stopped by officers while riding the vehicle along the pavement on the A596 at Siddick at 10.30pm on March 7. Pamela Fee, prosecuting at Workington Magistrates' Court, said police spoke to the defendant and told her the e-scooter had to be road legal and licensed. Ms Fee said it then became clear that Bower only had a provisional licence and there was no insurance for the vehicle being used in a public place. Police could smell cannabis and a search was carried out under the Misuse of Drugs Act. A small wrap of cannabis, a joint and a grinder were found. The e-scooter was seized by police and Bower was reported for driving it without a licence and without insurance. Bower, who was not legally represented, said: 'I didn't know I wasn't allowed to use the thing. They shouldn't be allowed to sell them in Halfords. 'I was driving up and down the lane. I didn't know it wasn't allowed.' Bower, of Hillcrest, Northside. Workington, pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence, using a motor vehicle in a public place without third party insurance and possessing a Class B drug. Passing sentence, presiding magistrate Mark Gear, said: 'There is a surge of people riding these e-scooters on pavements and things. There is some sympathy with you about how you got it from Halfords. 'We are here to protect other people. 'The reason for you having it is legitimate. In the wrong hands, people are being injured by them and the court has to take a view on that. 'You did take it outside the remit of your own land and we have to deal with that.' Bower was fined £80 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £64 victim surcharge. Her driving licence was endorsed with six points. An order was made for the forfeiture and destruction of the cannabis.
BBC News
18-06-2025
- BBC News
Workington violent offender jailed for assaulting ex-partner
A man has been jailed for attacking his ex-partner and helping to break into a property to steal a Winder, of Hunday Court, Workington, was caught assisting two others in burgling an address on the town's Rydal Street in May last year, and, upon his arrest, assaulted an officer and damaged a patrol on bail, the 32-year-old, who has 45 offences on his criminal record dating back to 2007, also punched his then girlfriend on four separate occasions and smashed her him to 26 months at Carlisle Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Nicholas Barker said Winder had "never ceased to act in a violent way" during his 18 years of offending. He was also banned from contacting the woman for three Tariq Khawam described Winder's ex-partner as "feeling terrified, knowing he will continue attempting to make contact with her". "She is worried he will hurt her, or find a way to get her attention."Mr Khawam said that Winder's convictions demonstrated a propensity for violence but added he had been showing signs of positive progress since being remanded in custody in November. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Workington Cumberland Sports Village stadium design revealed
New plans have been revealed for a stadium which would house a town's football and rugby approved, Cumberland Sports Village in Cumbria will have capacity for 3,700 Workington AFC and Workington Town RLFC fans - 2,700 seated and 1,000 year Cumberland Council agreed last year to spend £235,000 on designing the new Sports Village spokesman Dave Bowden said the new ground had the potential to "create lasting benefits for Workington AFC, Workington Town RLFC and the whole community". As part of the plans, the existing stands will be demolished and West Stand, the stadium's main structure, will including seating for about 1,000 people, wheelchair viewing spaces, a large function suite, executive boxes and a sports bar and external fan stands will be built on the South and East sides of the ground, with an uncovered North Stand. The existing pitch will also be replaced with a 3G playing surface and new floodlights will be installed. 'Inspiring future generations' Workington AFC said the development would provide a "modern, high-quality facility" for the first team, youth development and the club's community programmes.A Workington Town RLFC spokesperson said: "We believe that the project will inspire future generations to want to watch and play sport in this facility. "We feel the project is of the right scale, with a sensible and realistic approach, and will provide lasting benefits for Workington and West Cumbria." The stadium will also have facilities for meetings, conferences, community Council leader, Mark Fryer, said: "It is fantastic that we now have some revised detailed designs for a venue which will cement our status as major players on the sporting map." Plans to develop a new stadium have been in the works for more than five years and have been scaled back from an initial design for 8,000 the now-defunct Allerdale Borough Council dropped the project, the region missed out on hosting a Rugby League World Cup match because it did not have a suitable stadium. Public engagement events are to be held to get feedback on the plans, which are expected to be submitted to the council at the end of approval is given, it is hoped construction will begin in early 2026 and be completed in 2027. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
