A TEN-year plan to boost Kendal's economy by attracting investment, creating new jobs and developing businesses opportunities has been unveiled.

Kendal Futures, the regeneration partnership for Kendal, launched its new action plan at an event at Kendal College.

The Kendal Economic Growth Action Plan 2015-2025 includes projects that will grow the local economy, fuel job creation and increase Kendal’s long-term prosperity.

It identified eight economic challenges the town faces such as an ageing population and the gap between wages and house prices.

To tackle the challenges it has proposed 16 projects under four headings:

L Business specialisation and diversification

L Attract and retain working age talent

L Establish a brand for the wider Kendal economy and give special focus on quality of life

L Deliver economic infrastructure and place making investment

Kendal Futures Chairman Peter Hensman said: "Kendal is well placed to remain a thriving centre offering quality jobs, dynamic businesses and a great quality of life. The new action plan will help us to achieve this and Kendal Futures is committed to working with our partners to deliver it."

Among the projects are exploring using 'mintcake' as Kendal's unique selling point, strengthening links between the town's schools and Kendal College and developing a Town Centre Development Action Plan (TCDAP).

The TCDAP will identify short, medium and long-term projects to re-use vacant floorspace on the edge of the town centre such as Lower Stramongate, reconfiguring the Westmorland Shopping Centre and tackling underutilised sites such as K-Village, as well as improving Kendal's image as a night-time economy destination.

It also said it would explore the idea of using traffic free streets/New Road car park for arts, music, street games and entertainment and also 'radically improving' the quality of the market.

The mothballed Northern Link Road, which would link the A591 at Plumgarths roundabout with the largely industrial A6 Shap Road to ease town centre traffic, is still a key aspiration 'to prevent stifling future development and growth at the north of the town', it added.