Town hall rings changes

The refurbishment of Kendal Town Hall and South Lakeland House had initially sparked concerns from Kendal Town Council and some councillors on South Lakeland District Council’s planning committee.

The 13-member panel met on Thursday, December 19, to decide the applications and voted 12 in favour of the plans with just a single abstention from Ulverston councillor Janette Jenkinson.

The plans were submitted by SLDC to its own planning department as it owns and uses the two town centre buildings and is the planning authority.

SLDC planning officer Nick Howard told the committee: “Overall,we consider that the public benefits of improved access and the health and well-being of end users will offset any harm, so the recommendation to you is to approve.”

He said Kendal Town Council had received a ‘presentation’ of the proposed scheme three days before the planning application was heard and had been ‘reassured’ that the issues they had originally raised had been heard and that KTC now felt ‘able to support’ the refurbishment.

Cllr Jenkinson, the Conservative councillor for Ulverston West, said: “Now that I have heard some more information I feel a lot more comfortable with aspects of this that I did not like.

“I was a bit concerned about the council chamber and I still think it’s taking away something from the council by taking away these benches, but that’s just my view, and I am happy to accept that meetings now are held in a more open environment. I always thought the chamber was something special. We had one in Ulverston Town Hall and we do miss it.”

Cllr Malcolm Lamb, a Lib Dem for Ambleside and Grasmere, said the refurbishment had ‘not gone far enough’.

“There’s an awful lot of single-glazing in this building and the thermal efficiency is hopeless. There doesn’t seem to have been much thought gone into that, and it seems that this was the opportunity to do it, but I appreciate that was going to cost an awful lot more money.”