posted 3.30pm, Wednesday 18 December
Kirkby Lonsdale Community Recovery Partnership is working hard to be able to offer immediate financial support to people who lived and worked in the area affected by the fire. We are endeavouring to get this financial support to those who need it before Christmas Day. Council staff are in the town today knocking on doors to help people apply for the immediate support. If you have not yet been contacted or are displaced and not in the town please call 015242 36404. If there is no answer, please leave a clear message with your name and contact details and somebody will call you back. Or call into the community support centre in St Mary’s Church.
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The Go Fund Me page set up by Lunesdale Hall (Institute) charitable trust working with Kirkby Lonsdale Community Recovery Partnership and Cumbria Community Foundation has closed.
At the request of the Kirkby Lonsdale Community Recovery Partnership, Cumbria Community Foundation yesterday launched the Kirkby Lonsdale Fire Disaster Recovery Appeal to help support the immediate and long-term recovery of people affected by the fire.
The appeal has been launched with a donation of £50,000 from Westmorland and Furness Council
The appeal is focussed on individual hardship caused by the fire and will broadly support the following:
- People who have lost their homes and possessions to the fire and been displaced, and
- People who are suffering hardship due to business closure linked to the fire and the loss of income to their households.
If funds allow, community recovery activities - To donate to the Fund, please click here
To find out more about the fund, please click here.
The community support centre remains in St Mary’s Church this week. This is being manned by local volunteers from 9am to 5pm daily with support from Westmorland and Furness Council officers. Please feel free to call in for help and advice. The centre is welcoming of people of all faiths and people with no faith. Anyone unable to visit in person can call 015242 36404.
The next drop-in public meeting will take place tonight (Wednesday) in the Lunesdale Hall from 5pm. All welcome to hear updates and ask questions.
Parking in Westmorland and Furness Council-run car parks – New Road 1, New Road 2 and Market Square – will be free to use until the end of December. Parking off Wellington Court, adjacent to the A65 and before the Lunesdale Surgery (with the exception of the specified staff parking bays) if offered throughout December as temporary unrestricted parking with immediate effect. The Booths main store car park remains one hour free with an option to purchase a second hour as normal. Please note that the Lunesdale Surgery parking is for patients of the doctor’s surgery only. Our thanks go to Booths for their ongoing support to the community and the economic recovery of the town.
While the cordon is in place, temporary loading bays have been created in Market Square to support businesses in Main Street and Market Street whose loading arrangements have been disrupted. Anybody parking in Market Square is asked to use the spaces off Wellington Court if they are staying longer than an hour, to keep spaces available for shoppers.
Mitchelgate is open – but only open ONE WAY – so please drive with care and follow the diversions and signs.
Hophouse Lane will be closed again tonight from 8pm to 4am for safety reasons for work to repair of scoured verges and carriageway edge erosion. With Mitchelgate one-way while the cordon is in place in Market Street/Main Street, there will be a diversion up to and along the C5081. Traffic control teams will be deployed at either end of HophouseLane to advise.
Events by Shop Small is showcasing 35 Kirkby Lonsdale businesses impacted by the fire and Christmas Market stall holders affected by the cancellation of the event an opportunity to trade at a Late Night Shop Small event at Junction 36 Auction Mart at Crooklands tonight from 6pm to 8pm. Entry is free for anyone wanting to go along and it would be wonderful if people could support these local businesses at this most difficult time
Businesses in Kirkby Lonsdale are holding late-night opening events until 7pm on Friday 20 December and Monday December 23.
For your own safety no members of the public can go beyond the cordon area, there are a number of structurally unsafe buildings and heavy machinery operating in the area.