Plans have been revealed for NHS staff and 300 nuclear workers to move into a new £25 million facility in West Cumbria.

Allerdale council is behind plans to build a new shared stadium for Workington Reds and Workington Town on the site of the current Borough Park and former dog track, Lonsdale Park, in Workington.

And now the authority has revealed that it is in talks with Sellafield Ltd, after the company expressed an interest in becoming a partner.

A report which will be discussed by Allerdale’s executive committee on Wednesday said the authority initially wanted to submit a planning application in December 2018, however after Sellafield’s expression of interest in November, plans had to be redrawn.

The report says: “At the start of November, discussions commenced with Sellafield Ltd who expressed an interest in becoming a partner to the development through leasing substantial office space for up to 300 staff.

“This has the potential to make a significant contribution to the long term financial viability of the project and therefore the design team were instructed to consider options for incorporating this into the stadium design. This has required a complete redesign of the East stand of the stadium design to create 2,800 square metres of office space over three floors.”

The design amendments to the 8,000-seat stadium cost the council £44,691.

The cost of the entire project was initially set at £15 million but with the extra space for Sellafield workers the cost rose to £25 million.

NHS workers would require office space of around 2,600 square metres.

The report said: “The financial business case for the development is dependent on the income streams that can be achieved from key tenants including the sporting clubs and in particular the NHS and Sellafield Ltd. Whilst detailed ‘in principle’ discussions have taken place there is a need to finalise ‘heads of terms’ with both parties.”

Mark Fryer, executive member with responsibility for economic growth, said: “There has been a lot of work on the stadium project already which has got us to where we are today and I’d like to thank the clubs and partners for their support so far.”

The executive committee will also be asked to approve the strategic priorities budget at next week’s meeting at Allerdale House at 10am.

The budget is of a total of £373,955 and is made up of: £228,603 for design fees and related appointments; £101,602 for ground investigation works; £26,000 for planning fees; £17,750 for design and planning of 3G pitch.

Allerdale council said the stadium will directly support an estimated 400 full-time jobs and indirectly a further 36. The construction would create 345 full-time jobs.

A Sellafield spokeswoman said: "Ensuring local communities derive maximum social and economic benefit from the Sellafield mission is central to our Transformation Programme.

“Moving employees off the Sellafield site and into local towns is an important factor in delivering this. These moves can also help clear space for decommissioning and reduce the burden on the local transport infrastructure.

“Allerdale Council’s stadium proposal is an exciting development which could provide major benefits for the community.

“We are currently exploring the potential for Sellafield Ltd involvement in the scheme and we look forward to discussions continuing as the project progresses.”