Living Streets in Kendal

Kendal (Living Streets Local Activist)

Contact

Paul Holdsworth
Email
Paul@sldt.co.uk
Paul Holdsworth is our local contact for Kendal. He can be contacted at Paul@sldt.co.uk.

Latest News from Kendal

Kendal is a busy market town of 28,000 people. It has great potential as a walking friendly place, with a comprehensive range of shops, schools, services and entertainment. The town centre is accessible on foot from anywhere in town in half an hour or less. The main shopping area was made much more pedestrian friendly in 2006, with wider pavements, calmed traffic and some shared space, as well as lots more seats and trees. But there is still much room for improvement.

Many routes into the town centre are dominated by traffic, and bridges crossing the River Kent can be difficult to use on foot - lots of crossing points have poor or non-existent pedestrian crossings. Some of the most desirable public land on the waterfront is given over to free all-day parking, instead of prestige public space for everyone to enjoy. The town has a big one-way system that permits higher vehicle speeds and generates longer car journeys, as well as making crossing the road more hazardous.

Our new contact in Kendal is Paul Holdsworth, who used to work for Living Streets, where he developed Community Street Auditing. In 2006 Paul organised a DIY Community Street Audit for his residents' association, and a neighbouring RA is asking for an Audit of their own area. Both of these highlight the need for good pedestrian connections to local supermarkets, Booths and ASDA, to reduce unnecessary car-use and encourage local shopping trips on foot.