£5.5 million Pow Beck Valley stadium plan "wrong from the beginning"

Copeland Borough Council has been accused of “ploughing on regardless” with failing plans to build a new sports stadium by conservative group leader David Moore

Moore said the £5.5m scheme, which was to have hosted fixtures in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC), was “wrong from the beginning”.

An external report into the project’s collapse said the council was not robust enough in planning for risks. The council said it was “already applying the lessons it has learnt from this project”.

It was planned in partnership with Whitehaven Amateur Football Club and Whitehaven Rugby League Club but no agreement could be reached with Whitehaven Miners’ Welfare over access via land it owned.

Moore said: “If you don’t own the access to a development site, you shouldn’t be trying to develop it.”

Council chief executive Paul Walker said: “All the partners were passionate about wanting to make this project successful for the benefit of people who live in Copeland, and whilst it is regrettable that the project couldn’t progress, the decision by us all to stop the project was the right one, we could do no more.”

“Like many large scale projects, Pow Beck Valley was incredibly complex and there were a number of significant changes during the lifetime of the project. This presented challenges for the Council and its partners.

“It is important for any organisation to continually seek to improve the way it works. The Council is already applying the lessons it has learnt from this project, as well as wider learning from the review.”