The council gave notice on 24 September that it intends to option public open space at High Sparrowmire to Persimmon, whose 143-home plan awaits a decision.
Westmorland and Furness Council intends to hand Persimmon Homes an option over a piece of public open space at High Sparrowmire, on the Hallgarth side of Kendal. The council gave statutory notice on 24 September. Objections had to be in by noon on Thursday 8 October, so the window has already closed. (Public notice, Westmorland Gazette, 24 September 2026)
The land sits beside Persimmon’s application for 143 homes on the fields west of High Sparrowmire, which has been with the council since January 2025 and is still waiting for a decision. (Application 2025/0117/FPA, council planning register)
What the notice says
The notice is short. It says the council “intends to dispose of Land at High Sparrowmire, Kendal, by way of an Option Agreement to Persimmon Homes Ltd and Messrs Ellis”, and that “the Land consists of an area of public open space”. It is signed by Linda Jones, the council’s Director of Law and Governance, and dated 24 September 2026.
It does not say:
- how big the area is, or which part of the open space it covers
- what Persimmon wants it for
- what the council would be paid, or when the option could be exercised
A plan of the land can be inspected at South Lakeland House on Lowther Street, or requested by email from the council’s legal services team (the address is in the notice). Objections were to be sent in writing to the same team by noon on 8 October.
The notice is required by section 123(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972. Before a council disposes of open space it must advertise its intention in a local newspaper for two consecutive weeks and consider any objections it receives. The notice ran in the Westmorland Gazette and on the Public Notice Portal.
We could find no published decision record for the option agreement on the council’s committee system at 10 October. The council’s surplus-assets list, which went to Full Council on 24 September, names four Kendal sites and does not mention High Sparrowmire. (Assets Surplus to Current Service Needs, Council, 24 September 2026)
The 143-home scheme next door
Persimmon Homes Charles Church applied in January 2025 to build 143 homes on about 9.95 hectares of arable fields. The site is bounded by Lane Foot Farm to the north, the houses on High Sparrowmire to the east, Fir Tree Rise and High Garth to the south, and Windermere Road (A5284) to the west. (Planning Statement, Lichfields, December 2024, on the register)
Most of the land has been earmarked for housing for more than a decade. Policy LA2.1 of the South Lakeland Land Allocations plan, adopted in December 2013, allocates “West of High Sparrowmire” for about 150 homes. Persimmon’s site covers the whole allocation plus extra land to the north.
The application proposes:
- 93 open-market homes and 50 affordable homes (35 per cent)
- of the affordable homes, 25 for affordable rent, 12 shared ownership and 13 First Homes
- a single vehicle entrance from Windermere Road
- new footpath links into the Hallgarth estate, with the existing public footpath (574009) across the site kept but realigned
- 0.89 hectares of natural and semi-natural open space, against a policy requirement of 0.20 hectares
Two thirds of the market homes would have four bedrooms. The affordable homes are mostly one and two bedroom.
A second vehicle access onto High Sparrowmire itself was in the council’s 2016 development brief for the site. Persimmon’s planning statement says that access “has been removed to mitigate concerns of additional traffic in the Hallgarth estate”. So the open space in the council’s notice is not needed for a road, on the plans as submitted. The notice does not say what it is needed for.
What Kendal Town Council said
Kendal Town Council’s planning committee raised no material objection when it was first consulted in February 2025, but attached a list of conditions. When the council re-consulted on amended plans in April 2026, the town council said the same points still stood and added two more. (Town council responses, 17 February 2025 and 7 April 2026, on the register)
Its points were:
- more information on the safety of the new junction on Windermere Road, which it said was “not clear”
- plans for emergency vehicle access, visitor parking and turning heads
- protection for Hallgarth residents from noise, dust and fumes during construction
- attention to the objections lodged by the Lane Foot Residents’ Association
- from April 2026: a play park on the site, and a contribution to St Thomas’ School from the Community Infrastructure Levy
- from April 2026: further information on direct pedestrian and cycle access into Hallgarth
The town council also noted that the site falls inside Burneside parish, not Kendal, but that “significant service provision will be required from Kendal”, so it wants Kendal to see some of the levy money.
Persimmon’s own pre-application consultation, reported in its planning statement, found 67 respondents (25 per cent) generally supported the proposals and 201 (74 per cent) did not.
Drainage: all water to go north
The Lead Local Flood Authority raised concerns in March 2025. The applicant’s drainage consultant replied in December 2025 that the whole site would drain to the watercourse on its northern edge, which flows towards Burneside, at the rate the fields discharge today. “No flow would discharge towards High Sparrowmire,” the response says. (Betts Hydro response to the LLFA, 16 December 2025, on the register)
The register shows further highways and drainage documents filed on 8 September 2026 and a consultation period that closed on 2 October. The council’s own target date for a decision, 18 September 2026, has passed.
The other High Sparrowmire scheme
Separately, South Lakes Housing applied in 2018 for 25 affordable homes on land at High Sparrowmire. That application, SL/2018/0806, went to committee more than once between 2019 and November 2024. The register marks it “Awaiting Legal Agreement”, with no decision notice issued yet. (Application SL/2018/0806, council planning register)
The housing association’s website says development “will soon be getting under way”, with more details to follow. (South Lakes Housing, High Sparrowmire page)
What it means for you
- If you objected to the open-space disposal, the council must consider your objection before it decides whether to go ahead. The Act does not set a deadline for that decision. Ask legal services at South Lakeland House for the outcome.
- If you missed the deadline, you can still comment on the planning application itself, although its formal consultation closed on 2 October. Late comments are usually read if they arrive before the decision.
- Who decides the 143 homes is about to change. A scheme of this size would normally have gone to councillors. From 31 October a single 13-member planning committee replaces the South Lakeland committee, and applications only reach it if the council’s chief planner and the committee chair agree they raise a significant issue. We explain the new rules in our report on the planning committee changes.
- Hallgarth residents should note the submitted plans have no vehicle access from High Sparrowmire. If that changes, the application would need amending and re-consulting.
Comparable recent decision: the 160 homes at Kendal Parks were approved by the Strategic Planning Committee on 17 September, subject to a legal agreement.
Sources: the public notice of 24 September 2026; the council planning register entry for 2025/0117/FPA and the documents filed on it; section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972; the surplus assets report to Council, 24 September 2026; South Lakes Housing.
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