The council said Tesco's bid met its regeneration needs best

Allerdale Borough Council is being recommended to choose Tesco as the preferred bidder to build on the Cloffocks in Workington.

The council's Workington Town Centre Task Force Group made the recommendation after looking at bids from a number of major retailers.

Potential development partners were asked to produce bids to meet a number of criteria including helping with the regeneration of the town.

Leisure developments

Council leaders Jim Musgrave said: "We are delighted to recommend Tesco as the preferred developer.

"Looking at the whole package they offered, it best met our needs regarding regeneration of the area and linkages to the town centre.

"The preliminary decision needs to be confirmed after further negotiations on some items that need to be addressed."

The council says the sale of the Laundry Fields site would raise more than �7m and it hopes the money will go towards improvements to housing and leisure developments.