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Across the day: BBC Cumbria Live

Martin Lewes

Reporter

We've now finished posting the best of the county's news and other information for today and this week.

Here's a reminder of some of today's developments:

• The Cumbrian drug advisory service, CADAS, marked 40 years by observing that the fastest-growing part of its clientele was largely young men using cocaine casually at weekends, and then finding they were addicted to a narcotic that some did not even realise was illegal
• A senior county councillor in charge of environmental matters reported that fitting Cumbria's streetlights with low-energy bulbs had saved £1m of public money, cut the authority's carbon footprint, reduced light pollution, and provoked a flood of complaints that they were not bright enough
• And at the far end of South America, in Patagonia, a young Cumbrian, Joe Dugdale, ran up a mountain and came down a world champion.

Our congratulations to him, and to the other two athletes from the county competing in the World Mountain Running Association's championships.

We'll be back from 08:00 on Monday, and as always, if you've got any stories or photos to share, let us know by sending us an email, getting in touch on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Have a very good weekend.

Cumbria 'loses out' from pensioners using bus concessions

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Cumbria County Council should be compensated for all the pensioners from outside the region who enjoy “free” bus travel at the local taxpayers’ expense, a leading councillor has said.

Peter Thornton, the authority’s deputy leader who is in charge of finance, said many of the visitors to Cumbria and the Lake District would be pensioners making use of concessionary travel offers available on council-funded bus services.

Getty Images

Mr Thornton said tourist areas were at a disadvantage because their residents did not travel in similar numbers to the places where tourists came from, and he urged that government recognise this imbalance.

• This week a major conference in Kendal discussed how best to reduce car use in the Lake District.

To be fair, if I travelled somewhere else outside Cumbria, it works the other way around, but clearly we have more people coming into Cumbria and using our bus services than we have Cumbrians going out and using other people’s bus services."

Peter Thornton

Care home closure 'a farce' says campaigner

The closure of a village care home by Cumbria County Council has been branded a "farce" by a local businessman.

David Brockbank, who redeveloped Staveley Mill Yard into an industrial and retail estate, appealed for plans to shut The Abbey in Staveley to be deferred at a meeting of the council’s cabinet yesterday, and tabled plans for community trust to take on the maintenance costs of the building.

After the decision, Mr Brockbank said: “They have not considered in a positive way the views of the community."

Council officials had said the 28-bed home had only six residents and little chance of attracting more, but the local Liberal Democrat councillor, Stan Collins, said the authority had been "turning applicants away wholesale for some time".

The councillor in charge of adult care, Patricia Bell, said demand for residential places in care homes was falling and the "dated" home faced prohibitive costs to bring it up to standard.

A 1,000-strong petition has been ignored and a solution ignored. We had heard they have already arranged the relocation of the residents (before today), so it’s all a farce."

David Brockbank

Cumbria's weather: Clear intervals, then patchy rain

BBC Weather

Tonight will have clear intervals at first along with a few showers.

It will be cloudier after midnight with patchy rain and drizzle, and lowest temperatures from 1C to 4C (34F to 39F).

BBC

You can always find the latest, hour by hour, BBC weather forecast for where you are, here.

Drugs charity chief: Cocaine use 'now prolific'

Cocaine use in Cumbria has now become so common that some people do not realise it is illegal and addictive, according to the chief executive of the county's main charity dealing with drug use.

Cumbria Alcohol and Drug Advistory Service, known as CADAS, is marking 40 years this year, and staff say it does not have the funds to deal with rising need.

Leigh Williams, the charity's chief executive, says some people don't realise that cocaine is a Class A drug, because it is now almost socially acceptable.

That's because it's being taken so prolifically in social situations, it's not something that's hidden and done behind closed doors any more."

Leigh Williams

Mountain runner Eve comes 16th in world championship

Cumbria's youngest competitor in the World Mountain Running Championships has come 16th in her event.

Cal Pannone

It's the first time Eve, 18, from Armathwaite, has been chosen for the national team, for the event in Patagonia.

Copeland runner Joe Dugdale won the junior men's event, completing the 7.6km route in 32min 44sec and Sarah Tunstall is running in the senior women's race.

School matron jailed for sexually assaulting boy

Defence secretary says Labour a threat to shipyard

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has visited Barrow today to argue that only the Conservatives can be trusted with the future of the town's shipyard.

The Labour candidate, Chris Altree, said Labour was committed to the nuclear deterrent and the shipyard, and voters were more interested in other issues..

Mr Wallace, who has been Defence Secretary since Boris Johnson entered Downing Street, said Labour might strangle the Dreadnought submarine programme "at birth" or kill it "by a thousand cuts".

Jeremy Corbyn, by his own words, does not believe in these submarines, does not believe in their use and does not believe in the nuclear deterrent."

Ben Wallace

BAE Systems

People are talking about what's going to happen with austerity, we're talking to nurses, teachers and doctors and people are talking about a wide range of issues."

Chris Altree

One third of new trains now on tracks, says Northern

The train company Northern says 33 of the 101 new trains being brought into service are now operational.

Northern

Stations served by the new fleet include Oxenholme and Barrow and Windermere.

Earlier this week, new statistics showed fewer than half of Northern's services ran precisely to time, down on the summer figure of 61%, although the company blamed bad weather and congestion on rail tracks.

Cumbrian wins title at mountain running championships

The Cumbrian runner Joe Dugdale has won the junior men's race at the World Mountain Running Championships in Patagonia.

WMRA

Joe runs for Copeland, and is one of three Cumbrians running in the championships at the far southern end of South America.

Barrow sign Blackburn midfielder to cover injured Taylor

BBC Cumbria Sport

Barrow have signed recent Carlisle target Tom White on loan from Blackburn until the middle of January.

The 22-year-old central midfielder's expected to fill in for the injured Jason Taylor.

He was a youth team player with Carlisle, who tried to re-sign him from Gateshead this summer, before his move to Ewood Park.

Cumbria's weather: Mostly dry with sunny spells

BBC Weather

This afternoon will be mostly dry with sunny spells and just the chance of an isolated shower.

There will be brisk winds and highest temperatures from 6C to 9C (43F to 48F).

BBC

You can always find the latest BBC weather forecast for where you are, here.

LED streetlights save £1m a year - and spark complaints

Local Democracy Reporting Service

John Connell

Cumbria's councillor in charge of environmental issues has been inundated with complaints about energy-saving streetlights introduced across Cumbria this year.

BBC

The council wants to change all its lighting to LEDs by the end of 2021 as part of a move to save money, slash energy consumption and reduce light pollution.

The £5.3m county-wide improvement scheme will help the authority reduce power bills by more than £1m a year, saving enough electricity to power a small town.

But Celia Tibble, the cabinet member for environment, revealed that her inbox is regularly crammed with emails complaining that the dimmer lights are “dangerous” and "we can't see by them".

One of the big things that we have done for light pollution and saving energy is the LED bulbs and I can tell you that that has been the biggest complaint in my email box and from people on the streets."

Celia Tibble

Winners revealed in the 2019 Business Awards

News and Star

Newspaper

At a glittering ceremony at the Halston in Carlisle, finalists and business leaders gathered to hear who had won the hotly-contested 17 categories up for grabs.

News and Star

Cocaine is rising problem for drug charity in 40th year

Neil Smith

South Cumbria journalist, BBC Cumbria

There's a warning that an increasing number of young people in Cumbria, who start using cocaine on a night out, are becoming addicted to the drug.

CADAS, the Cumbria Alcohol and Drug Advisory Service, now in its 40th year, says such recreational drug use is its largest concern.

Getty Images

Drug advisors at the charity say that the users, predominantly men, sometimes don't even realise cocaine is forbidden by law as a Class A drug, and slip into dependency as they start using it through the week as well as on Saturday nights.

You're talking about relatively well-off, relatively mentally well or stable individuals who are getting involved in something, maybe not seeing the end result as an addiction."

Phil CaineCADAS recovery coach

Liberal Democrat takes Shap seat for Eden council

The Liberal Democrat, Neil McCall, has been elected as the councillor for the Shap Ward on Eden Council with 184 votes.

The Conservative Sean Quinn polled 128, and Kerryanne Wilde, from Putting Cumbria First, got 67 votes.

There were two spoilt ballot papers, and turn out was a little over 34%.

Fans fancy Bridges for a Brunton Park return

BBC Cumbria Sport

Fans' favourite Michael Bridges, who played at Brunton Park until 2009, has jumped up some betting firms to 2/1 favourite to be the next Carlisle United manager.

Getty Images

Bridges, seen here playing for United in 2008, expressed an interest in returning to the club last year.

Assistant manager Gavin Skelton was second favourite with one bookie, ahead of the likes of Andy Welsh and Paul Heckingbottam, but said this morning he would not apply.

Skelton will be in caretaker charge of United's game at Port Vale tomorrow in League Two, their first match since Wednesday's sacking of Steven Pressley.