TOWN centre commuters and traders have hit out at the Westmorland and Lonsdale Conservative Party for failing to take action to repair their fire-damaged headquarters.

The political party’s Kendal base suffered substantial damage last February.

Since then, repair works have stalled and scaffolding continues to obstruct a busy town centre traffic lane on Highgate.

Next week, Cumbria police will question four men who were held on bail after the incident.

Meanwhile Conservative party members admit they still have no firm plans to fix or sell the centre.

Owner of Exchange clothing store Sally Hill said trade at her business had been badly affected by ugly scaffolding. “It’s an eyesore,” she said. “In the morning I hear a lot of angry drivers beeping their horns outside as cars try to merge into one lane.

“Customers avoid driving up into Kendal from the south because they know about the traffic it causes. At the same time tourists don’t walk down from the town centre because scaffolding makes this end of town look closed.”

South Lakeland District Council’s Coun Graham Vincent, portfolio holder for economy and enterprise, said he would welcome anything that would stabilise the building and allow the road to be fully cleared.

Conservative Trustee David Matthews said the group had considered selling the building but nothing had been confirmed: “We can’t alter the structure of the building or remove the scaffolding until we know what we’re going to do with it. These things do take a lot of time.

“We’ve considered our options but we haven’t got any set plans. “I use the road quite regularly and don’t think it’s caused much traffic obstruction.”

Conservative Association president Roger Bingham voiced concern over progress in the police investigation. “It's been a long time since the fire and we haven't heard anything.”