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- Updates on Thursday 7 December 2017
- South Korean national power firm favoured to take over Moorside
- Snow showers warning for county
- New fast trains 'will go straight through Cumbria'
- Poppi inquest continues
We've now finished posting news, travel reports and other items from the around the county for today. Here's a reminder:
- A power company owned by the South Korean government was revealed as preferred bidder to replace the giant technology company Toshiba at the helm of the Moorside nuclear energy project;
- The news that Britain's fastest trains might fly through Cumbria without deigning to stop has annoyed businesses in the county;
- And the Santa Claus featured in Wigton's Christmas lights may have had one too many mince pies; he pulled masonry loose in the High Street.
We'll be back to do it again tomorrow from 08:00.
Have a very good evening.
The company planning the new high speed train services to the north of England says it hasn't ruled out stops in Cumbria on trains going through to Scotland.
Cumbria's chamber of commerce says it wants to see some direct services from London, and ideas such as changing at Penrith would not be good enough.
This afternoon the company said direct trains from Birmingham were another possibility being considered.
No final decision has been made on HS2 services, and won’t be until closer to the railway’s opening."
A driver whose speed touched 100mph before he crashed off one of the main roads through Carlisle has been jailed for 10 months.
Alfred Brown, 37, of Mardale Road, Carlisle, lost control on Orton Road, ploughed across a grass verge and through a litter bin, making one police officer think he had hit a pedestrian.
No one was hurt and Brown was swiftly caught. Today he admitted dangerous driving, while disqualified and without insurance.
Judge Peter Hughes QC told him: "You could so easily have seriously injured or killed somebody."
It will remain windy overnight, with further sleet or snow showers on high ground. A frost will form in some places with temperatures down to about -1C (30F)
There's a yellow weather warning in place for snow and ice, with up to 2in (5cm) predicted for most of Cumbria.
You can find the latest BBC weather forecast for where you are, with details of the weather warning, here.
The expert pathologist giving evidence to the Poppi Worthington inquest has said that she too, cannot determine a cause of death from the available evidence.
Poppi was 13 months old when she died suddenly at her home in 2012, but the cause has never been ascertained.
Dr Liina Palm, of Great Ormond Street hospital in London, told the inquest that on the basis of the post mortem tissues, there was not enough evidence to support penetration.
Westmorand and Lonsdale Lib Dem MP Tim Farron says a national NHS consultation on radiotherapy services is a chance to push his campaign to bring a cancer treatment centre to Kendal's hospital.
Mr Farron's run a lengthy battle to bring a radiotherapy centre to the Westmorland General because local patients currently have to travel to Preston or further afield for treatment.
I would strongly encourage anyone who supports our campaign, to take part in the consultation so that the need for a radiotherapy unit at Westmorland General is put firmly onto the national agenda.”
News and Star
A large pink and orange inflatable, gently inflating and deflating, a shoal of arctic char made out of steel, and a set of mirrors allowing people to take abstract selfies are among six art installations being set up in the Lake District to mark the designation of the area as a World Heritage Site.
The mirrors will be put together to form a funnel-shape that can be moved around to reflect the landscape, the sky, or participants, and it will be placed at the Arts and Crafts house, Blackwell, near Windermere.
The others will be placed in specific sites around the Lake District next year.
BBC News Travel
An accident has partly blocked Scotland Road, the A7 in Carlisle, at Beechwood Avenue.
Wigton High Street has been closed after a Santa illumination in the town's Christmas lights proved too heavy for the stonework on one building.
Fire crews are currently making the building safe.
BBC News Travel
Wigton High Street has been closed to traffic while firefighters deal with loose brickwork on the Lion and Lamb pub.
A pathologist giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Poppi Worthington says marks and bleeding interpreted by a colleague as suggesting abuse could have had natural causes.
Dr Liina Palm, a consultant in paediatric pathology at Great Ormond Street hospital in London, said bleeding observed by a doctor at Furness General Hospital required an explanation, but by the time of the post-mortem examination it might be impossible to know what had caused it.
The pathologist who carried out the examination, Dr Alison Armour, believes the bleeding is evidence of sexual assault, but her interpretation has been questioned at the inquest in Kendal this week.
Dr Palm was asked by Cumbria Police to review Poppi's case and see if there were natural causes of her death in 2012.
A £6m loan fund could be set up in South Lakeland to help housing associations build more homes.
The money would come from cash building up because of government schemes such as the New Homes Bonus, which effectively rewards local authorities with money for every new home they give planning permission for.
Councillor Jonathan Brook, who is in charge of housing, said: “The loan facility would allow housing associations to access low interest rate finance from the council, removing an obstacle which may be preventing them from developing more affordable housing in the area."
The plan is going before councillors at a meeting next week.
A pathologist called to help the inquest into the death of a Barrow toddler says that signs interpreted by a colleague as indicating abuse often occurred naturally.
Dr Alison Armour, who carried out the post-mortem examination on 13-month-old Poppi Worthington after she died in 2012, noted findings suggesting abuse.
But Dr Liina Palm, a consultant in paediatric pathology at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, said: “It is a common phenomenon that occurs after death but it does not occur in every single child.”
Earlier this week a Home Office pathologist, Dr Nat Cary, told the inquest he'd found nothing to suggest sexual assault.
Cumbria's Local Enterprise Partnership has welcomed reports that the South Korean power firm, Kepco, is preferred bidder to take over developing a nuclear power station at Moorside, near Sellafield.
`Moorside, when complete, will be the largest nuclear power station in Europe, employing up to 2,000 people and generating 7% of the UK's electricity.
Cumbria LEP director Graham Haywood said: “We welcome the confirmation of KEPCO’s plans to invest in Moorside.
"This is a positive step forward to making the project a reality and bringing a real economic boost to Cumbria."
there will be wintry showers this afternoon, spreading from the west Some of the snow showers could be heavy, and the temperatures will fall away to 3C (37F) by later afternoon.
There's a weather warning for more snow overnight and tomorrow, settling to around 2ins in places.
You can find the latest BBC weather forecast for where you are, and details of the warning, here.
Plans to trains from the HS2 services straight through the county on their way to Scotland have been heavily criticised by Cumbria's Chamber of Commerce.
The trains will travel at 250mph to north of Manchester, and then slow to normal speeds to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
But HS2 passengers travelling between London and north of England would need to change at Preston to reach the county.
Cumbria Chamber of Commerce thinks the disruption could damage the county's economy, and three of the county's MPs say they'll lobby the Transport Secretary to reconsider the decision.
It strikes us as bizarre that HS2 trains would hurtle through the county without stopping."
The Met Office severe weaher warning for snow tomorrow has been extended to cover most of Cumbria.
It says increasingly frequent snow showers will spread into the county overnight and could settled to a depth of up to 2in (5cm) in the county, making travel difficult in places.
South Cumbria journalist, BBC Cumbria
The inquest into the death of the Barrow toddler Poppi Worthington has been told that her favourite cuddly toy has disappeared.
The elephant-shaped pink pillow was mentioned in evidence and can be seen in photographs taken during a police search.
In statements read to the inquest this morning, Poppi's mother said she had asked for it to be returned, but police officers said there was no record of it being seized or in police stores.
A blanket seen by one officer who thought it had blood on it has also not been found.
Police are trying to track down the driver of a red BMW who pulled out in front of a motorcycle on Salthouse Road in Barrow yesterday morning.
Officers say the two did not come into contact but the motorcyclist skidded and fell off at the junction with Foundry Street, injuring their leg.
A company's been refused permission to keep one of Britain's first wind farms running on the Furness peninsula for another decade.
Zephyr Investments wanted to extend the life of Kirkby Moor Wind Farm, which was on of the first to gain planning permission back in 1992.
But the permission ran only for 25 years, and as it stood, the wind farm's operating agreement would end in August 2018.
South Lakeland councillors have now voted against any extension, a decision welcomed by objectors such as the Friends of the Lake District.
Supporters of a new nuclear power plant in west Cumbria have welcomed the announcement of a new partner to take over the project.
Kepco, South Korea's government-owned power generator, has been chosen as the preferred bidder for the site at Moorside, which has been put on hold since the Toshiba subsidiary, NuGen, got into financial difficulty.
The Labour MP for Workington, Sue Hayman and the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce believe the plant will bring high levels of investment to the county and will create thousands of jobs.
BBC News Travel
Transpennine Express and Virgon Trains say there are still delays of up to 90 minutes on southbound services on the West Coast Main Line after metal debris was blown on to the track last night.
The overhead lines were damaged when a freight train made an emergency stop to avoid the sheet metal, thought to have been blown off an agricultural building.
- Temperatures at 3,000ft: 7C, dropping to -3C by the end of the day.
- Winds: Gale or severe gale force west or northwesterly, occasionally storm force with gusts 80mph, easing slightly later in the day.
- Cloud: Patchy cloud around 2,500ft, locally more widespread down to 1,000ft at times in sleet & snow showers.
- Visibility: Good, locally poor or very poor in wintry showers and in hill fog.
- Freezing level: Above the tops at first, lowering to 1,600ft later.
The Lake District Weatherline report says ice axe, crampons and winter clothing are likely to be come essential.
The first underwater forensic dogs trained in Cumbria to recover people who have drowned are now being called upon across the north west.
Fox Red Labradors Harley and Sansa are now helping officers during missing persons searches and when examining crime scenes.
It's the amount of time they would save by searching, it's closure for families, we can say we've done everything we can."
Trains running south on the West Coast Main Line have been seriously disrupted after problems on the track near Oxenholme last night.
A freight train made an emergency stop at about 02:30 to avoid sheet metal probably blown onto the track from an agricultural building by high winds, but in the process, tangled the overhead power lines.
A spokesman for Network Rail said engineers were trying to disentangle the train and that in the meantime, trains could not run south.
Northbound services are running normally.
About 212 properties in Carlisle city centre have lost their power supply, according to Electricity North West.
The company says the fault was noticed at 06:45 when 600 properties were affected.
It says it has engineers on site but that it's not yet know when the power will return.
It'll be a very windy start to the day across the region, and after a band of heavy rain clears to the south east, we'll see bright sunny spells along with blustery showers.
Temperatures could start at 10C (50F) but it will get rapidly colder.
There is a yellow warning of snow starting tonight.
You can see the latest BBC weather forecast and the weather warning for snow, for where you are, here.
An inquest in Kendal will hear further arguments this morning over what caused the death of the Barrow girl Poppi Worthington.
The Cumbria senior coroner David Roberts has already been told by one Home Office pathologist, Dr Alison Armour, that the 13-month-old toddler was probably sexually assaulted before she died, and by another, Dr Nat Cary, that evidence is not conclusive.
They agree that the cause of her death cannot be ascertained.
Another consultant paediatric pathologist is due to give evidence today, along with Deborah Evans from Cumbria County Council.
BBC News Travel
The A66 is closed to high-sided vehicles because of strong winds
BBC News Travel
Transpennine Express and Virgin trains heading south through the county are being disrupted by overhead line damage following an incident at Oxenholme last night.
Trains are suspended between Penrith and Lancaster. Passengers will be taken by other routes but there's no word of replacement bus services.
They hope to have it cleared at 09:15.
We'll be here through the day, posting news, travel reports, a regular weather forecast, and anything else that takes our fancy from around the county.