IAN Kell did many of us in Kendal a great favour in summarising the Kendal Vision project (Letters, October 17, 'Kendal Vision looks exciting').

His critique of its conclusions was particularly insightful and helpful for those of us like me who weren’t present at the formal presentation of the results.

I attended the public workshop for a short time and have scanned the information on the web, most of which seems to focus on today’s problems.

‘Visioning’ is about establishing a future goal, something we aspire to be or to be known for. It sets a direction of travel and a basis for investment priorities.

Mine would be: "A vibrant town centre, devoid of traffic, where people live, businesses thrive and the assets of the town are fully utilised."

Another is: "A town that is an exemplar on how to plan for and mitigate the effects of climate change."

Much discussed in the workshop I attended was: "A town that has an environmentally friendly transport that encourages lifestyle-enhancing activities such as walking and cycling." Like Copenhagen or Amsterdam.

One aspect not considered was the ageing population. I hazard a guess that there are more people in Kendal over 60 than under ten.

Over the timescales of this project, there are likely to be more people over 80 than under 30, maybe even 40!

Demographics and house prices make this inevitable. One thing Kendal has in spades is hills and rain. A ‘Vision’ of 80-year-olds walking and cycling to the shops at 80-plus would be something!

Bob Swindle

Kendal