KENDAL VISION - INSPIRATION FOR CHANGE IN KENDAL

OPPORTUNITY AREAS WESTMORLAND SQUARE & TOWN CENTRE THE CHALLENGES • The one-way system severs Stramongate and intensifies traffic impact in the town centre. • New Road Common and the river are also severed by the one-way system. • The multi-storey car park, bus station and BT building, in tandem with the one-way system, creates an unattractive and hostile environment for visitors and shoppers. • The Westmorland Shopping Centre is tired and no longer provides a valued retail destination. • The town centre is grey with little street greening or tree planting. • There is now only one independent butcher in the town, suggesting the vulnerability of the independent food offer in Kendal. • The night life and pub offer is simply not good enough to attract custom, especially from the young and students. Many travel to Lancaster or elsewhere to go out. • Kendal College identified that the town must provide a viable evening offer to attract students to enrol. • The opening of the vape store at the very centre of the town (the old Greggs site) caused dismay and was seen as a poor indicator of the town centre’s health. THE POSSIBILITIES • The moving of the bus terminal to the railway station forecourt triggers the opportunity to reconfigure the entire bus station and multi-storey car park. • Taking advantage of the reduced traffic and balancing of the local town centre streets, would allow the reinvigoration of Stramongate and Wildman Street. • Build on the emerging artisan and retail experience in the yards. • The intimate scale and form of the newer existing independent retail spaces, should inform the development of the new retail core. KENDAL VISION 2020 | THE POSSIBILITIES 84