Cumberland council offered £1m as it hosts Sellafield nuclear site
Councillors will meet in Carlisle next week to decide whether to accept the funding for the next two years.
Last updated 11th Feb 2026
Cumberland Council is set to get £1,000,000 in funding from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, it has been revealed.
Members of the council’s executive committee are due to meet at Carlisle’s Civic Centre on Tuesday (February 17) to consider the report – acceptance and allocation of Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Responsible Authority Fund 2025/26 and 2026/27.
According to the report it seeks approval from the executive with regards to the acceptance of Responsible Authority Fund (RAF) from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for the years 2025/26 and 2026/27.
It adds: “The Sellafield site is the largest nuclear and waste facility in the UK and its location within the council’s administrative area presents multiple challenges for the council in terms of mitigating the social, economic and environmental impacts of hosting the site.
“The RAF is provided by the NDA to support the council to ensure that staff resources, relevant skills, knowledge and capability exist and remain within the organisation to respond to these challenges This funding must be utilised within the footprints of the former Copeland Borough Council area.”
It is recommended that members approve the utilisation outlined in the report, authorise the leader and chief executive to sign the agreement and accept the RAF and delegate the decision making and management of the RAF to an assistant director to draw down the funding as outlined in the report.
It states: “In May 2022, the NDA and Copeland Borough Council signed the RAF agreement that ran from 1st October 1, 2021, to March 31, 2025. The total funding available was £1,750,000, with the total amount payable each financial year capped at £500,000.”
According to the report the NDA has confirmed that the total amount of funding available for the RAF in 2025/26 will be £500,000, with an additional allocation of £500,000 for 2026/27. It adds: “The council must confirm that it wishes to accept this funding for 2025/26 and 2026/27.”
It states: “This paper outlines the approach to the allocation of the funds for 2025/26 and 2026/27 which aligns the terms of the agreement. It is proposed that Responsible Authority Fund continues be spent in line with the terms of the agreement and previous years.”
That is:
- to directly fund specialist staff resources employed by the council to deliver activity associated with hosting Sellafield site;
- to offset the costs of staff resources required to support delivery against the work programme associated with Sellafield;
- to support costs associated with the development of programmes and projects that benefit the social or economic life of our communities living nearest to the Sellafield site.
It adds: “The specific scope and allocation of resources should continue to be agreed with the NDA on an annual basis with the detailed arrangements for this and the drawdown on funding delegated to the assistant director of thriving places in consultation with the leader and portfolio holder through the standard decision-making process.
“The council could refuse to accept the NDA RAF, but this would expose the council to the risk of meeting the costs of activity relating to the mitigation of the social, economic and environmental impacts of the nuclear industry in Cumberland from council budgets or alternatively the council not adequately responding to these issues.”