Football pitches, a pub and even a cinema could be built as part of a huge contractor village set to be built in Whitehaven.

Land at Mirehouse is the largest of three sites planned to house workers building the new Moorside nuclear power plant, with others earmarked for Egremont and land off Coach Road, Whitehaven.

The exact sites under consideration have now been confirmed as NuGen - the firm behind plans for the three-reactor plant on land next to Sellafield - looks to house the 4,000 workers expected to move into the area during construction, beginning in 2020.

The vast 166-acre Mirehouse site, on land off Mirehouse Road, is expected to house 2,500 in student-style single-person accommodation, with reserve space for 1,000 more if one or both of the other proposed villages isn't feasible.

Including a football pitch, sports facilities and a large entertainment centre that could include a cinema, pub and restaurant, it would have an 800-space car park with workers encouraged to use a shuttle coach to Moorside from an on-site terminal, or a train from the newly-built Mirehouse platform. According to NuGen staff, the facilities would be available for public use.

Access to the village would be from a road built from a new roundabout at Westlakes Science Park.

The Corkickle village would be over two pieces of land at the top of Coach Road. Totalling 49 acres, it would house 1,000 workers but have space for 500 more. It is planned for a stretch of land either side of Coach Road; between Low Road/Meadow View and the Recreation Ground on one side, and behind The Ginns on the other. Access would be from Coach Road and there would be parking for 295 cars.

In Egremont, the site earmarked is a 40-acre piece of land to the left of the A595 northbound, before St Thomas Cross Roundabout. Including 218 car parking spaces, it would house around 500 workers with space for 500 more.

Fergus McMorrow, NuGen's planning lead, told The Whitehaven News that the facilities could remain when the workers move out at the end of construction, in around 2026.

He said: "Any planning permission for the worker accommodation sites that NuGen gets would last only until the project is complete, but the local authority or the community might feel at that time that some or all of it can be used in another way - and decisions will then be made at that time."

Views are now being sought on the plans for Moorside, and its associated accommodation and transport schemes, during an 11-week public consultation.

NuGen is permitted to apply for compulsory purchase orders to buy up property or land to make way for its proposal, which could impact some close to its road improvement schemes. Residents who have been affected in other ways, including noise or house devaluation, may be entitled to compensation.