36 homes to go on former Kendal garage site (From The Westmorland Gazette)

36 homes to go on former Kendal garage site

4:54pm Thursday 5th November 2009

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PLANS for a housing development with 36 apartments in Kendal’s cultural quarter have been approved.

South Lakeland District Council’s planning committee gave the go-ahead for the housing complex with attached retail unit on the former Stokers Garage site at Kirkland.

Liverpool-based architect firm L.A.G. Pritchard devised the plan for 36 one and two-bedroom apartments and a retail unit after a proposal to provide a medical facility on the land was withdrawn earlier this year.

Kirkland Court will feature 24 apartments available for rent to local people, including affordable homes managed by Impact Housing Association.

The remaining 12 will be purpose-built for disabled people through Leonard Cheshire Disability.

At the planning meeting on Thursday councillors expressed concern that if a chain supermarket opened in the retail unit it would under-mine other shops in the area.

“I think it is a very imaginative scheme,” said Coun Sylvia Emmett.

“But can we ask that they don’t sell newspapers in the space so as not to compete with the newsagents?”

There had also been con-cerns that the projecting rear wing, which rises to an extra storey, would be visible to residents living on Aynam Road.

But planning officials dec-ided this would not be detrimental to the conservation area and was acceptable.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the scheme agreeing that it was a “very beneficial development” for Kendal.

L.A.G director, Jonathon Pritchard said Kirkland Court will reinforce retail developments in an under-developed part of the town centre.

“This is a much-needed development in that part of Kirkland and hopefully it will act as a link with other retail developments,” he said.

“It is about time we were able to get a development going at this site.

"We have spent a long time trying and a lot of hard work to get it to this particular point.”

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