Town Team November Update

Key Projects in the Town

In our last article in September’s AKL we outlined the Key Projects that emerged from the comprehensive consultation and engagement exercise we had undertaken during the first part of the year. There are 10 projects that we are proposing as priorities, with one of those projects (town centre improvements) divided into a number of elements.

Each project now has a lead organisation or organisations tasked with delivering the project and each organisation is putting together a set of steps and a timescale for delivering their project. Some of the areas of work are relatively straightforward and can be delivered over a short timescale, others are more complex, challenging and will take time and considerable resources.

What is gratifying is that the process we have undertaken has sparked a lot of enthusiasm and a number of projects are already underway and are being delivered by a range of organisations, and the community, working together.

In August the Chamber of Trade and the Community Interest Company organised a team of volunteers to clean and repair road signs in and around the town. You may have seen the coverage and photographs in AKL and certainly many signs can now be seen more clearly and are more legible.

Following public consultation the Town Team have now passed their suggestions on to the Town Council for consideration as to what upgrades or improvements may be appropriate & affordable in the play park.

Town Team members Lyn Richardson & Marie Batty have agreed to use their experience to work with the Town Councils Play Park sub committee to develop a detailed costed proposal to put before both organisation which would also include how the project could be funded.

In order to continue the Illuminate Festival beyond 2027, and to provide a resource for the town as a whole, a plan is being developed by Churches Together and the Community Interest Company to enable an Events Organiser to be funded and appointed.

As the means of developing other key projects come forward, we will provide information on these in future editions of AKL.

The Kirkby Lonsdale Place Plan

The range of projects to be undertaken is just one element of developing a Place Plan for the town.

This Plan will: outline the issues facing the town over the next few years; identify both a vision for Kirkby and a set of strategic objectives; set out what residents, visitors and those who work in the town have identified as priorities; and summarise the key actions that are to be put in place. The Place Plan will set out how progress is to be measured and how annual reviews of priorities will be undertaken.

A Draft Place Plan has been put together and after this has been finalised towards the end of the year, we will arrange an information session in the Lunesdale Hall to share our work. This is likely to be in February.