A comprehensive community participation process driving effective and lasting change in Kendal.

  
    Type 
    Community Engagement
  
    Location 
    Kendal, Cumbria
  
    Client 
    Kendal Futures
  
    Partners 
    JTP
  
    Status
    Completed 2020

Mark cropper
CHAIRMAN OF THE THE BOARD
KENDAL FUTURES
Noel and his team have worked tirelessly to engage a diverse and wide ranging number of people. Seeing younger people coming and contributing their thoughts on the future of the town is a credit to the team’s hard work and helps ensure a strong mandate for a positive and aspirational Vision.

READ THE VISION

Ambition
An Aspiration Vision for Kendal

Farrer Huxley were commissioned as lead consultants alongside JTP Architects to facilitate a comprehensive community participation process designed to identify and develop opportunities for change in the town of Kendal, Cumbria.

The Client, Kendal Futures, is a public/ private partnership made up of large employers and public stakeholders, working to promote investment in Kendal. They commissioned the team to deliver a Vision that combines excellence in urban design with a strong mandate of support from the people of Kendal.

Impact
A Compass for Change

Our professional team of landscape architects, urban designers, architects and community engagement experts collaborated with the people of Kendal, culminating in the development of 12 themes and a set of tangible possibilities for change in the town.

Opportunities within sustainability, infrastructure, economy, housing, historic assets and culture were distilled into a document for public sharing, which will act as a tool for future change making.

Read Kendal Vision here.

Approach

A Collaborative Community Planning Process

A 3-day community planning process and dedicated local business workshop actively involved local stakeholders in the visioning process. The professional team guided participants through discussions, walkabouts and hands-on planning sessions, distilling feedback (including hundreds of questionnaires and post-it notes) into 12 themes for change.

The team brought the themes to life in the two days that followed, developing tangible examples of change within the key areas of the town identified during the workshops.

The process and its outcomes were presented to the participants during a public report back session at the Town Hall.

A Wide Capture

It was understood that giving all stakeholders an opportunity to participate in the visioning process provided a public mandate and the best chance for effective and lasting change.

The project has engaged a wide audience through engagement with local councils, businesses, cultural bodies, residents, representatives and the local college and schools.

Publicity was used to communicate that everyone could be involved even if they couldn’t attend the community planning event. In addition to the 3-day workshop, we carried out localised meetings, informal engagement including conversations in local parks, and satellite workshops and drop-in sessions at local schools and Kendal College.