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Kendal News

The latest Kendal news: planning decisions, council and crime updates, business and community stories, each linked back to its official source.

Top story Shap Road Business Park in Kendal Recommended for Approval Planners back up to 49,507 sq m of industry and warehousing on fields north of Meadowbank, Kendal. Councillors decide on 12 November. · 5 min read

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Roads Kendal 20mph Order Made, Covering the A6 and Most Estates The council made Kendal's 20mph order on 3 November. It covers the A6 through town and more than 170 lengths of road, and applies once the signs go up. · 4 min read Business Kendal empty shops: council could auction long-empty units Nearly one in five Kendal town centre units is empty. On 10 November Cabinet decides whether the council can auction leases on shops left vacant over a year. · 6 min read Business Pure Lakes opens its Bowness shop on Ash Street Pure Lakes, the Far Sawrey skincare maker, has opened a shop in Victoria Buildings, Ash Street, Bowness, selling its full handmade range of skincare and gifts. · 2 min read Environment Windermere sewage plan: a £3.7bn tunnel to keep wastewater out of the lake A £3.6bn to £3.7bn plan would take all wastewater out of Windermere through a new tunnel and connect 12,800 people to sewers. It is a study, not a decision yet. · 4 min read Planning Lake District Pop-Up Campsites to Need Planning From 2028 Pop-up campsites anywhere in the Lake District will need planning permission from 1 March 2028. Comments on the national park's direction close on 16 November. · 6 min read Roads Burneside and Grasmere 20mph Approved, Signs by March 2027 Councillors approved 20mph limits for Burneside, Grasmere, Crosscrake and four other places on 15 October, unchanged. Signs are due by the end of March 2027. · 3 min read Social care Applethwaite Green care home decision put back again Windermere's council care home will not learn its future on 27 October, and no new date is on the forward plan. The options, the costs and what scrutiny wants. · 6 min read Homelessness Manna House loses £12,000 council grant: the reasons given Council officers ended the Kendal homeless charity's £12,000 a year grant without asking councillors. Here are the council's reasons, and how to help. · 4 min read Business Kendal bakery Lovingly Artisan up for five national awards Lovingly Artisan, the sourdough bakery at Plumgarth's on Crook Road, is a finalist in five Baking Industry Awards categories. Winners are named on 25 November. · 4 min read Roads Kendal relief road dropped from government funding list The Kendal Northern Access Route, a new road from the A591 to the A6, will not get government money. The council says it will ask ministers to explain why. · 4 min read Planning High Sparrowmire: council to option open space to Persimmon 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. · 7 min read Planning Kendal planning committee goes: single panel from 31 October South Lakeland's planning committee is dissolved on 31 October. Most Kendal applications go to officers, and councillors lose the power to call them in. · 5 min read Tour de France Tour de France 2027 Windermere: £4m hosting deal signed Stage 2 passes Bowness, the Lyth Valley and Milnthorpe on Saturday 3 July 2027. Hosting will cost £4.004m, and the council has now signed the agreement. · 6 min read Roads Burneside 20mph: 18 objections, order approved 15 October Burneside's 20mph order was approved as advertised on 15 October despite 18 of 20 responses objecting. Here is every objection and the officers' answers. · 8 min read Kendal Kendal crime August 2026: violence falls back to 66 Violence and sexual offences around central Kendal fell from a record 140 in July to 66 in August, below the usual level. July now looks like a one-month spike. · 4 min read Kendal Kendal Parks 160 homes approved with two votes in favour Councillors approved up to 160 homes at Kendal Parks by two votes to none, with three abstaining. The minutes show doubt that so many could be built. · 5 min read Kendal Cumbria bus consultation closed: what happens next for Kendal The Cumbria bus reform questionnaire closed on 25 October and no findings date is set. What the study is, what it asked and why your Kendal buses stay the same. · 3 min read Business Cumbria Grand Hotel to be sold, administrators confirm The Grange-over-Sands hotel will be marketed for sale with Strathmore's seven other hotels. No hotel jobs have gone and the bank expects to be repaid in full. · 5 min read Kendal Kendal violent crime: 140 in July, a three-year high Police recorded 140 violence and sexual offences around central Kendal in July, a three-year high. Other crime was normal; Penrith and Barrow were flat. · 5 min read Kendal Kendal Age Friendly Festival: free on Sunday 4 October Free festival for older people at Kendal Leisure Centre, Sunday 4 October, 11am to 2.30pm, with winter jabs for eligible people and advice on home adaptations. · 3 min read Kendal Kendal council sites for disposal: depot, County Hall, hub Mintsfeet depot, County Hall, the Kendal East family hub site and land on Fowl Ing Lane are on the council's surplus list, plus Milnthorpe's old toilets. · 5 min read House prices Westmorland and Furness house prices hit a record £230,449 The district average reached £230,449 in July, the highest the index has recorded. But June's 11.1% rise has since been revised down to 10.1%. · 5 min read Kendal Kendal polling stations: what changes, comments close 5 Oct The council is asking whether Kendal Leisure Centre, the Common Room and the Beck Centre still work as polling places. Comments close on 5 October. · 7 min read Kendal Westmorland and Furness Way opens via Burneside The Westmorland and Furness Way opened on 15 September. Its longest stage, 27 miles from Sedbergh to Bowness, runs through Burneside and Staveley. · 8 min read Kendal Kendal claimant count: 320 in August, a 2026 high Kendal's five wards recorded 320 claimants in August, the joint highest of 2026. Nether ward rose 15 in a month, against a district figure flat on the year. · 7 min read Kendal Westmorland Shopping Centre car park: wider bays from 28 Sep Relining at Kendal's biggest car park starts Monday 28 September. Bays go from 2.4m to 2.6m wide, so there will be fewer spaces, and floors will shut in turn. · 4 min read Kendal Nether Bridge, Kendal: five-day closure from 12 October Nether Bridge shuts to all vehicles for up to five days from Monday 12 October while the parapet demolished in June is rebuilt. Diversion via Romney Bridge. · 6 min read Kendal Kendal Parks 160 homes: what the committee was asked to decide The Kendal Parks 160 homes plan was approved on 17 September by two votes to none, with three abstentions. What the scheme includes, and who objected. · 10 min read Planning Arnold Clark site, Kendal: self-storage decision Thursday Officers back self-storage in part of the empty Mintsfeet Road garage, against objections from the council's own highways and flood teams. Decision Thursday. · 6 min read Community Burneside playground reopens, Windermere skatepark next up Hall Park in Burneside is open again, a Kendal playground and the Queen's Park skatepark are in procurement, and Kendal's pump track is advancing. · 5 min read Kendal Museum Kendal Museum wins £100,000 to work with Kenya's Nandi Kendal Museum takes £100,000 from the Esmée Fairbairn fund, joint-largest of six June awards, for a two-year project on the collection in its closed gallery. · 6 min read Kendal Heart of Kendal: £12.8m of £13m now due in one year £1.366m of this year's Heart of Kendal budget moves to 2027/28, leaving £250,000 for 2026/27. Cabinet is asked to sign the change off on 8 September. · 6 min read Staveley Staveley: 25 Crookfields homes done, none listed yet The third phase of Crookfields in Staveley is finished, helped by a £300,000 council grant. Castles & Coasts has not advertised any of the homes yet. · 5 min read House prices House prices here rose 11.1%, 4th fastest in England Only three of England's 295 districts rose faster in the year to June 2026. The Westmorland and Furness average is now £230,066, £248 below its record. · 7 min read What's On Westmorland County Show 2026: free Kendal bus, £23 tickets Gates open at 8am on 9 and 10 September at Crooklands. Book by 8 September for £23 adult tickets, and take the free half-hourly bus from Kendal Bus Station. · 7 min read Jobs Kendal claimant count: 305, as young claims buck the UK 305 people across Kendal's five wards were claiming in July 2026. Under-25 claims in Westmorland and Furness fell 15% in two years while the UK's rose 16%. · 4 min read Business Cumbria Grand Hotel in administration, bookings still open Administrators took over the Cumbria Grand's owner on 11 August. The Grange-over-Sands hotel is one of eight in a group that employed 415 at the last count. · 5 min read Schools Kendal GCSE results day: 20 August times and next steps GCSE results land on Thursday 20 August. Kirkbie Kendal runs 9.30am to 3.30pm, Kendal College posts grades online from 9am, appeals close 24 September. · 4 min read Parking County Hall Kendal Parking: 3 Areas Cut, Order Approved Areas 1, 2 and 4 of the County Hall car park in Kendal leave public use after the order was approved on 15 October. Area 5 stays as public parking. · 5 min read Roads Burneside and Grasmere 20mph: 16 Roads, Approved 15 October Burneside gets 20mph on 11 roads and Grasmere on five under the order approved on 15 October. Windermere's scheme was dropped. Signs are due by March 2027. · 4 min read Business Wine Loft Bowness and two sister companies in liquidation Three companies linked to Belmont House on Lake Road went into creditors' voluntary liquidation on 8 July. The Sipping Fox distiller stays active. · 3 min read