Carlisle landscape competition launched for St Cuthbert's Garden Village

Future Cities Forum has been following the developments of garden villages through our interviews and events featuring the work of Sir Ebenezer Howard OBE, an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement.

Now Carlisle City Council in partnership with the Landscape Institute has launched a competition to select an individual or team to design a new Greenway and Park to form the centrepiece of St Cuthbert's Garden Village communities in the south of Carlisle.

The Landscape Institute states that St Cuthbert's Garden Village is one of the largest projects of its kind nationally and the largest in the north of England and that 'the scale and location of it provides a genuine opportunity to make a difference in a well planning and coherent way'.

'Start with the Park' to be based near Durdar and Blackwell, is an opportunity to create a resource that could be a visitor destination attraction in its own right and will benefit the existing and future residents of Carlisle. It will also connect the proposed new communities with each other, with existing villages in the area, with the city and with the surrounding countryside. The competition is open to both professionals and students across a range of disciplines.

Cllr Paul Nedwed, Portfolio holder for Economy, Enterprise and Housing said:

'Emerging from the post pandemic world, St Cuthbert's provides a unique opportunity to rethink how we want to live and redefine the garden village concept for the 21st century...we are looking for creative designers to work with us on the delivery of innovation in green infrastructure and landscape-led masterplanning.'

The Greenway, 'Start with a Park' project is identified in the Carlisle Town Deal Investment Plan, alongside six other schemes. Carlisle submitted the Investment Plan to government in October 2020 and received a Heads of Terms offer for £19.7 million of investment for the city in March 2021.

St Cuthbert's secured Garden Village status in January 2017 and will meet the need for sustainable housing growth over the next 30 years. Green and blue infrastructure will encourage a new healthier way of living for the existing population and new residents.

United Utilities which is one of the competition sponsors is responsible for water and wastewater services in the North West of England, and as part of the service delivers 1.8 billion litres of water to more than 3 million homes and businesses.