Coronavirus in Cumbria: Latest updates from BBC Cumbria Live (2024)

A driver was injured in a rush-hour crash in Carlisle this morning, police say.

She was taken to hospital with injuries that are not thought to be life threatening, after her Audi collided with a Vauxhall Corsa outside the Coach and Horses in Kingstown Road.

More than 300 people have signed a petition to halt the temporary closure of Barrow's dedicated dementia assessment ward.

The Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust says the Ramsey Unit at the Furness General will close while it's being refurbished.

Staff say the unit is relocating to Morecambe during the work, but they fear the move will be permanent.

The local Conservative MP, Simon Fell, says asking staff and families to travel so far "seems completely unreasonable", and in a letter to the trust he suggests using a closer alternative in Ulverston.

Cumbria county council is proposing to increase council tax from next April by 1.99%, which would add around 55p a week to the typical Band D household.

Officials say this would raise about £5m a year, but would mean the authority had to reduce its spending by £17m a year to allow for extra costs, some from Covid-19.

Over the previous three years, councils have been allowed to raise an extra 2% on the tax, earmarked for social care, but a consultation document, external says it is not yet clear whether this will apply in the coming year, so it has not been built into the budget.

West Cumbria is top of the list of possible sites for a series of small nuclear power stations.

A consortium, led by Rolls Royce, wants to build 16 small, modular reactors (SMR) in the north of England, and the Midlands.

Tom Samson, the chief executive of the UK Small Modular Reactor consortium, says he is is a fan of the way Cumbrians work with nuclear energy, and the county might also be a good location for the factory that would prefabricate the reactors so they could be more quickly assembled.

BBC Weather

Any early rain will soon clear away to the east this morning, leaving spells of sunshine through the day.

However, there will be one or two showers in places.

Temperatures reaching 10C (50F), in moderate to fresh south-westerly winds.

This evening will have clear spells with a few well-scattered showers.

You can find the latest BBC Weather, for where you live, by searching for your location here

Good morning and welcome to our news, sport, weather and travel updates for Cumbria.

if you have news you think we should know, or photographs that could be worth sharing with the rest of the county, you can email them to us, or tweet them in our direction, external.

Martin Lewes
Reporter

We've now finished posting news and other useful information from around Cumbria for today.

Major developments and travel reports will be posted automatically through the night, and we will be back from 08:00 tomorrow.

If you have a story you think we should know about or a photograph that the rest of Cumbria might enjoy, you can email it to us, or tweet it, external.

Have a very good evening.

Cumbria's northern and western districts, Carlisle, Eden, and Copeland, all saw increases in the rate of Covid-19 infection in the week to Tuesday, according to the latest county council figures, external.

Carlisle saw the largest increase, with 293 new cases, a rate of 270 new cases per 100,000 population, significantly above the national average.

But in South Lakeland and Barrow, there were fewer new infections compared with the previous week, and the county's director of public health, Colin Cox, said: “Wecan see from the data for Barrow that the infection rate does come down wheneveryone takes action and I’d like to recognise the effort that people inBarrow have made to achieve that significant reduction."

Hospitals in the county have seen another sharp increase in the number of patients suffering from the coronavirus, reaching 222, compared with 159last week, a 40% increase.

• Covid-19: How will university students go home for Christmas?
• Covid-19: Who will have the Pfizer vaccine first and when can I get it?

BBC Weather

A band of squally rain will move in from the west from around midnight onwards but it should ease before dawn with skies clearing from the west and lowest temperatures from 5C to 8C (41F to 46F).

You can find the latest, hour-by-hour, BBC weather forecast for where you are, by searching for your location here.

Carlisle United sign former Peterborough defender Rhys Bennett on a short-term deal until January.

The knifeman believed his victim had taken his Canada Goose beanie, but it was later found elsewhere.

Children in need of adoption should have a better deal under a new partnership announced today between Cumbria County Council, Durham CountyCouncil and Together for Children, which delivers children’s services on behalfof Sunderland City Council.

The three authorities have set up what is known as a "regional adoption agency", and the aim is to have a larger pool of potential adopters so children can be placed more quickly with a suitable family.

County councillor Anne Burns, Cumbria's cabinet member for people, said: "This is all about ensuring that childrenhave the best chance of being matched with the right adoptive family."

Police say the case of a drug dealer jailed today for 12 years for stabbing to death another man in Carlisle after mistakenly believing his victim had taken his expensive beanie hat, highlights the lethal danger of carrying knives.

The judge told Carlisle Crown Court, as he passed sentence, that Blair Dixon (pictured), 25, of Welsh Road in the city, admitted carrying a knife "at all material times".

Afterwards Det Ch Insp Jenny Beattie, the seniorinvestigating officer in the case, said:“This is a tragic case that appeared to start with a low-level dispute over apiece of clothing."

Martin Lewes
Reporter

The role played by the buildings that are now now the Ambleside campus of the University of Cumbria in establishing modern primary education methods is being marked by building links with the Charlotte Mason Institute in the US.

The buildings are what was created from the work of Charlotte Mason, who established a child-centred philosophy of education that is now followed by millions of teachers and home-school families in countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, India and the United States.

The campus was a teacher training college named after her until the end of the last century.

The Charlotte Mason Institute is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and three prominent associates, the founder, DrCarroll Smith, Dr Jennifer Spencer, the institute’s curriculum projectdirector, and Dr Deani Van Pelt, president of Ontario-based Edvance ChristianSchools Association, are intending to visit Ambleside next year.

Dr Spencersaid: “I want to pull Charlotte Mason back from the fringes and showcase her asa woman who was so forward-thinking that she is still in the vanguard ofeducational thought, even a century after her death."

As we reported earlier, a trial date has been set for a driver accused of causing a north Cumbria schoolgirl’s death bydangerous driving, and “deliberately discarding an SD card” containing dashcam footage of the collision.

Thirteen-year-old Ingrid Messenger died in the collision involving a Citroen in which she was travelling with her mother and elder teenagesister, a Land Rover and a Mercedes Sprinter van, between Stoneraise and Ivegill south of Carlisle.

Tony Packenham, 47, of Station Hill, Wigton, faces a charge of causing Ingrid's death by driving a Land Rover Defender dangerously, two charges of causing serious injury to hermother, Catriona, and sister, Erikka, by dangerous driving, and an allegation of committing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice, involving the SD card.

Mr Packenham was committed to appear at Carlisle CrownCourt, on 18 December.

BBC Weather

A band of squally rain will come in from the west from around midnight and be quite heavy at times.

The rain should ease before dawn with skies clearing from the west and lowest temperatures from 5C to 8C (41F to 46F).

You can find the hour-by-hour BBC weather forecast for where you are by typing in your location or postcode here.

BBC Cumbria Sport

Barrow face the prospect of up to five games in just 10 days after the Football Association rescheduled their FA Cup 1st round tie against Wimbledon for Thursday 26 November.

The winners of that match will face Crawley on 28 November, and in the run-up to that, the Bluebirds will play Cambridge, Forest Green and Oldham Athletic.

Cartmel Priory has been awarded just under £70,000 from the Government's Culture Recovery Fund.

The Grade 1 Listed church and surroundings in South Cumbria have lost income during the pandemic because of fewer visitors.

A historic former lead mine near Alston has been given to a local conservation group.

Nenthead Mines, external, most of which is classed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, now belongs to the Nenthead Mines Conservation Society.

Cumbria County Council transferred ownership, to allow the group to preserve and manage the site.

Pete Jackson chairs the trustees of the Nenthead Mines Conservation Society, and says they have big plans for the future.

Tony Packenham faces four charges including causing Ingrid Messenger's death by dangerous driving.