MORE than 6,000 new homes have been built in Carlisle in the last 15 years – with council chiefs promising that thousands more are on the way.

A special report by The Cumberland News, sister publication to in-cumbria.com, reveals the city’s leaders are hoping that about 565 new houses will be built every year until 2030.

That means 9,600 new homes are in the pipeline for the city, with house building at its highest point in recent times.

If all the further planned houses are built it will represent a 20 per cent increase in the city’s housing stock, say council officials.

As of March, a 617 homes were under construction.

The sites likely to be built on are outlined in Carlisle City Council’s local plan, the blueprint for how the area will evolve over the next 15 years.

Garry Legg, the council’s investment and policy manager, said: “We are looking to see that surge continue. The [council] members have really bought into the growth and there’s been some really positive decisions being made.

“That’s being put to the test when applications are coming before the development control committee.

“But they have refused some as well, so it’s not simply growth at any cost.”

With Carlisle expanding at an ever-faster pace, one key question from residents has been how new developments – and extra people – will be accommodated by the city’s roads and schools.

Mr Legg said that the authority had worked closely with other bodies, such as the county council, to determine how to support a growing population.

“We estimate that we need about £7m of investment over that 15 years in things like sustainable transport and the road network,” he added.

“We know there’ll be a need to contribute to primary education. For example, in north Carlisle we know there’s a need for a new school. If there was no solution to these things then we wouldn’t have allocated the sites.”

Steve Errington, the chief executive of Story Homes, explained why Carlisle was an attractive proposition.

“Like a lot of places, Carlisle has been under-provided for when it comes to new homes,” he said.

“Virtually all cities, to varying degrees, are in a similar position. Carlisle is expanding and there are big plans going forward.

“When the city council came out with what I thought was an ambitious local plan, it was a boost in confidence in the city.

"We are seeing huge demand for new homes and it’s picked up this year if anything. We are seeing a number of new developers coming into the city too and we welcome that.

“If we want to grow Carlisle then we have to provide quality homes for people to live in.”

Heather Bradley, who holds the city council’s economic brief, said housing was a key driver in growing Carlisle.

She added: “A huge number of houses are being built by local companies who are employing local people, so from that point of view the more people employed, with better wages, the better.

“That money then slips into the economy.

“Carlisle does need to grow in order to maintain and sustain the local economy because we have an ageing population.

“But it’s got to be an reasonable and gradual expansion.”

Housing schemes that have changed the face of parts of Carlisle include:

* Crindledyke Farm, near Kingstown, in the north of Carlisle. Story Homes launched Crindledyke Farm in May 2013, with an anticipated build rate of 40 to 50 homes a year. Progress has been faster than expected, driven by strong demand from buyers. It had completed 112 homes by January 2016.

The finished estate will have 850 homes, shops, community facilities and a primary school, to be delivered on completion of the 200th home.

The homes are a mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses – as well as some flats.

* The former Raffles estate has been transformed by housebuilder Lovell.

It has delivered more than 260 new homes in this part of the west of the city over the past decade in partnership with Carlisle City Council and Riverside.

These included 58 affordable homes for Riverside in Thomlinson Avenue and Dalton Avenue, completed in 2015. The building programme is ongoing.

* Clover Fields, south west of Carlisle. Charles Church, a subsidiary pf Persimmon, is building 103 executive homes on land between Peter Lane and Dalston Road, a mix of three, four and five-bedroom properties.