Residents have been reassured that they will have their say on plans to introduce a 20mph speed limit across all of Kendal’s roads.

Last week Kendal Town Council voted to back proposals which will now be considered by Cumbria County Council to slash speed in the town.

Councillors Jon Owen and Eamonn Hennessy spoke of the benefits they hope the scheme will bring to the town and confirmed that the public will have the opportunity to express their thoughts on the proposals during a consultation period.

“We’ve formed a view and now we can turn to the county council and to residents,” said Cllr Owen.

“We don’t know what the consultation will look like but for the avoidance of doubt this is not the final decision.”

The councillor, who represents Strickland, said the reduction in speed limit would be an opportunity to better people’s health in the community.

He said: “Kendal is a town of a great scale, we have lots of people who are quite fit so there’s scope for us to replace some journeys that are being done by car with walking and cycling.

“One of the important drivers for us is this sense that we could reduce congestion in the town.

“A lot of parents do the school run because they are rightly concerned about the safety of their kids near the roads.

“If we can slow everyone down slightly, we think there will be lots of benefits, reducing congestion with replacing some of the school runs; also, we have a generation of children who are perhaps less active than we have ever seen and a solution is creating infrastructure for more physical activity.

“If we can get more of them walking and cycling to school that will be good from a Public Health England point of view, good news for parents and the residents of Kendal who do need to be on the roads.

“We also have some streets in Kendal which are illegal or barely legal in terms of the air quality.”

Last year, the town council commissioned consultants to find out the current traffic speeds in the town, as well as the feasibility of increasing the number of 20mph areas.

The consultants found that in most of of the town cars were travelling at 24mph or less.

This, alongside other data, was reviewed by the Environment Highways Committee, who expressed a preference that the whole of Kendal be placed under a 20mph speed limit.

Cllr Hennessy said the plans could help make Kendal a "friendlier place" and that proposals would make "inroads" into recommendations from Kendal’s Climate Citizen’s Jury, including the prioritisation of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists and a "shift away" from car use.

He said: “We need to make Kendal a friendlier place, a more accessible place, a safer place, a cleaner place, a place in which we can all thrive and flourish.

“And I firmly believe that Kendal, as a major town in Cumbria, in South Lakes should be setting this example, should be looking to set itself aside, should be looking to modernise its look, its feel, its outlook.

“Let Kendal look great, let Kendal feel safe, let Kendal be perceived as welcoming, as clean, as friendly both to visitors and to the environment.”