The community of Kendal and council officials have joined forces in a 'heartwarming' effort to convert a vacant commercial premises into a home for a Ukrainian family.

Alison Bloxham, former owner of Kendal Physio Centre, initially submitted plans to extensively renovate 96 Stricklandgate where her former practice operated.

She changed these plans, however, as her application covering letter said: "I have made enquiries with Councillor Helen Chaffey about the possibility of accepting Ukrainian refugees into my property as it is already suitable for occupation and could be adapted very easily to provide a home at short notice.

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"My initial proposal as submitted for pre-application advice was to create a two-bed dwelling with an open plan lounge/diner/kitchen upstairs.

"This work would take a considerable amount of time.

"However with provision of a kitchen in the ground floor front room it would be possible to provide four bedrooms in the short-term and I could expedite this very quickly should a family require urgent accommodation.

"The toilet and shower room are fully functional."

Alison, who moved from Kendal to Devon in 2018, said that SLDC was 'fantastic' in helping to speed the project along, which has been given the green light, and has been blown away by the support she has received from both friends and strangers in Kendal.

"It all started with a post I put on Facebook Marketplace asking for furniture donations, explaining what it was for, and I was inundated with offers," she said.

"It's been an amazing response from the people of Kendal - Richard Clarke of Kendal Physio and Wellbeing Centre for the decorating, Charles Finnie of The Greenbank Workshop fitted the kitchen that was donated by Scott Halliwell, Ian Capstick of IC Safety PAT-tested everything, Andy Whitney of VW Carpet Cleaning Services cleaned all the carpets and furniture.

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"We had carpets donated from The Bed Company, a sofa and chair from Matthew Elwood of IN Group, and lino from Peter Lloyd Jewell of Lune Linoleum.

The Westmorland Gazette: YARD: The view of the property access from StricklandgateYARD: The view of the property access from Stricklandgate

"There have also been numerous individual donations and offers of items from the people of Kendal as well as those people who are helping me with the logistics as I no longer live locally." 

Work is currently underway and Alison hoped the property will be ready early-June, saying that she has, with the help of Cllr Chaffey, identified a family.

"The family we are hoping will arrive in June are a young couple with two young children aged four and two, and one set of their parents," say planning documents.