Council rejects £12bn plan to build nuclear waste site

But they urged the government to pump more cash into Sellafield.

A police presence was requested at the council offices in Carlisle as feelings were running high about the plans, which had been in the making for four-years.

There were huge cheers from environmental campaigners outside the offices following the vote.

Copeland and Allerdale borough councils covering the region were also discussing the idea today, with Copeland voting in favour of moving to the next stage, but the county council vote over-rides them.

Cumbria county council now wants the government to invest in improvements to existing surface storage facilities at Sellafield so there is a more "robust" arrangement in the decades to come.

Deputy leader Stewart Young said: "It is now time for the government to secure the long-term future of the nuclear industry and put in place robust storage arrangements at Sellafield while it decides how to continue the search for a repository elsewhere in the UK."

But the Prospect union, which represents 12,000 nuclear workers, expressed concern for jobs and economic growth in west Cumbria, "which relies so heavily on the nuclear industry."

"It potentially casts a shadow over any nuclear renaissance in the UK."