KENDAL town councillors were given their first taste of how Kendal's K Village could look if plans for a multi-million pound overhaul are approved.

Developers behind the ambitious £35 million proposal to rebuild the centre attended the town council meeting to explain their vision for K Village.

Plans, which have been submitted to South Lakeland District Council, include demolishing the existing building, and creating a four-storey factory outlet centre, with retail space increased from 23,500 to 80,000 square feet, and the number of shops rising from 12 to 42.

John Drummond, managing director of Edinburgh-based Guinea Group, told the council he thought the redevelopment plans represented a "tremendous oppor-tunity" to realise the potential of the site, and the southern end of Kendal.

Councillors heard the plans included two floors of parking with 500 spaces, and a drop-off point for coaches, which would use the existing over-flow car park off Parkside Road.

By creating enough on-site parking, developers hope this would solve the problem of visitors parking in Parkside Road and having to cross Lound Road to get to the shopping centre.

Although traffic lights are planned for the entrance to K Village to cope with increased traffic flows at peak times, several councillors expressed disappointment that the plans did not include traffic lights at the Parkside Road junction.

Mr Drummond said in light of those concerns he would ask for this possibility to be explored.

He also promised to look into the possibility of make the Lound Road elevation more interesting, after Coun Austen Robinson and Coun Philip Ball said they thought it needed breaking up.

Mr Drummond told the meeting that he would like to have a bus service running from the centre of town 12 months a year, possibly using the Kendal Klipper during the summer, and a replica bus for the rest of the year.

Plans also include developing the riverside walk to encourage people to wander into town.

Coun Jean Ewing said she was worried that with parking at the centre limited to three hours, visitors would not have time to look around both K Village and the town centre.

Mr Drummond said, on average, shoppers would only spend an hour in K Village, which would give them plenty of time to catch the bus into town, or walk into Kirkland.

He said construction would take between 12 and 14 months, and parts of the centre would be kept open for trading during that time.

l South Lakeland District Council's planning committee agreed to visit the K Village site at its Tuesday meeting after being inundated with letters of objection to the proposal.

A handful of letters had arrived that morning, but by the time members discussed the application later that day development control manager Peter Ridgway said about 150 objections had been lodged.

"I was going to recommend a site visit - I am even more inclined to recommend one now," he said