Cumberland Council is encouraging residents and visitors to support local businesses in Cockermouth.

The council, alongside partners, has organised a two-day Taste Cumbria Christmas event in the town between Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 December.

The event showcases local traders and is an opportunity for visitors to make a visit to local shops and eateries too.

This year’s festival will move to both sides of the town’s Cocker Bridge, which is currently closed to traffic, and use a big section of Market Place too.

There will be live music and street theatre, loads of stalls selling food, drink and gifts, fairground rides and children’s crafts. Even Father Christmas is coming to join the fun on the Saturday of the event.

Loads of other town organisations are getting involved in the festival too. Kirkgate Arts on Kirkgate is hosting an Etsy Made in Cumbria event and a fun family cooking session, the United Reformed Church on Main Street is home to Cockermouth Arts and Craft market, and the Methodist Church on Lorton Road has an exhibition of nativity cribs.

While the festival is clustered around Cocker Bridge, the rest of Main Street will remain open to traffic, and Station Street will run one-way as usual. The middle section of Market Place will be closed off while vehicle access will still be in place down Castlegate to Bitterbeck car park, and along St Helens Street and Kirkgate.

This year’s Taste Cumbria Christmas is organised by Cumberland Council, sponsored by Cockermouth Town Council, The Coffee Kitchen Bakery, Holmen Iggesund and Milburns Solicitors, and supported by Cockermouth & District Chamber of Trade. For the full festival line-up, visit the Taste Cumbria website.

Although the Cocker Bridge remains closed to traffic, a covered walkway is in place which provides pedestrian access into the town.

The Cocker bridge was closed to traffic following the partial collapse of the Old Courthouse building. Although the building is privately owned, the council used emergency powers to protect building safety.

Although there are no confirmed timeframes for when the bridge reopens, we will do all we can to make this happen as soon as possible. In the meantime, visit Cockermouth and show your support to local businesses

Agencies - including Natural England, Historic England, the Environment Agency and Cumberland Council - are assessing options for the Old Courthouse site.

Outdoor learning sessions, support for older people, a community radio station and a technology event all received funding from Petteril Community Panel this week.

The panel, which funds grass roots projects in specific wards, is part of Cumberland Council. With guidance from residents and a network of local partners, it directs funds and investment where it is needed most.

We have been successful in our bid for funding to boost research into health issues.

We are one of 11 areas to receive a share of £55m through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) which is investing the money to set up new NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations (HDRC) across the country. 

NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations enable local authorities to become more research-active, embedding a culture of evidence-based decision making in their activities.   

The council bid for the funding as part of its commitment to put improving the health and wellbeing of residents at the heart of its work. It also wants to take a preventative, evidence-based and innovative approach to the issues many of its resident’s face and embed this across the work of all of its teams.

The council will receive £4.8m to fund a new HDRC for the Cumberland area. The money will go towards the creation of a new research team within the council which will work with partners in the voluntary sector. It will also allow close partnership working with researchers at the University of Cumbria and the University of Central Lancashire. Much of the team's work will focus on some of the more deprived local communities in the area.

Our highways crews have worked around the clock over the last week with a concerted effort over the weekend dealing with the impact of the recent heavy snow and ice in the county.

Crews responded to various different incidents, mainly in the south Cumberland area of Millom which saw cars being abandoned on routes in and out of the town.

Since Wednesday last week, crews have treated and ploughed 2530 miles, used 251 tonnes of salt, carried out 203 hours of continuous gritting travelling 3230 miles.

Teams have also been supporting other partner agencies such as Electricity North West to gain access to areas where they had power outages.

Contractors involved in the construction of the Carlisle Southern Link Road have come together to support those most in need this winter by donating much-needed items to Carlisle Foodbank.

Led by Cumberland Council’s main contractor, Galliford Try Infrastructure, and their local supply chain including WSP, DSD Construction, Peacock Precision Services, Story Contracting and Cubby Construction have got into the festive spirit by coming together to gather and make donations to Carlisle Foodbank.

Those part of the Carlisle Southern Link Road project team will also spend time throughout December volunteering at the foodbank to help where needed.