A major housing development will go-ahead in Moor Row after gaining Environment Agency support.

The 73-home scheme at the former station yard and neighbouring field, near Dalzell Street, was backed by councillors at a planning meeting in November.

But the final decision was delayed to ensure the Environment Agency was happy with a last minute amendment to flood zones.

Now, planning officers have confirmed the development, which will include a mixture of detached, semi-detached and terraced housing, can go ahead.

Traffic concerns, which have long been a problem in Moor Row, were raised initially after the council invited comments on the new nine-acre scheme, as it falls outside an area currently designated for housing.

And four letters of objection were submitted by local residents who raised issues over road infrastructure around the site.

However, Copeland's planning report states that traffic calming measures will be "installed to slow down approaching traffic adjacent to the proposed access".

It adds: "It is considered that the potential benefits of developing this site as a whole for residential development, which would enable an importing existing allocated site for housing to be brought forward, is significant and is considered sufficient as an exception to policy to justify approval."

And, speaking previously, Egremont Town Council chairwoman Lena Hogg said the developments show that Moor Row is an area which is on the up.

"They've got to build houses where people want to live and people want to live in Moor Row because it's a lovely little village," she said. "There is no point building 1,000 houses in a place where people don't want to live."

The new proposals were submitted after permission for 33 houses on part of the site, granted in 2013, had lapsed.

A 26 home scheme for Moor Row was given the green light in November, for land at Rusper Drive, off Scalegill Road.

The plans showed there could be 20 houses with four bedrooms or more and six three-bedroom homes.