Projects aimed at helping boost the visitor, heritage and cultural offer of Kirkby Stephen are set to see significant progress this month.
Westmorland and Furness Council is working with local members, Kirkby Stephen Town Council and others on the Kirkby Stephen Town Centre Improvement Scheme, funded by £315,500 from the Government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UK SPF).
Following a decision to deliver the new play park separately, Sutcliffe Play (Scotland) have started delivering an upgrade to the playpark adjacent to Kirkby Stephen Primary school.
The see saw will remain in place with the remaining equipment being removed. The swings will be replaced with an upgraded swing set with a range of different seats on offer, and there will be a new climbing frame with slide and accessible roundabout. The surfacing will also be replaced as part of the project.
Work started on January 6, in spite of the weather, and is expected to take two-and-a-half weeks.
Meanwhile, work to enhance and refurbishment the town memorial garden at Silver Street is due to start today and take five weeks.
The project will create an appealing and welcoming green space in the heart of the town. The approved planning application includes plans to lower the boundary wall to improve visibility into the park and encourage use, extend the park area, introduce sitting areas and carry out hard and soft landscaping. The council has appointed Bespoke Landscapes and Builds to complete this work.
Improvements to the outside of the town's visitor centre to help protect this important building have also started. Work includes refurbishment of the external decoration and installing new timber windows. The council is pleased to be working with local builder and stonemason, Paul Thompson, to complete these works.
Kirkby Stephen and Tebay councillors, John Murray and Adrian Waite, are supporting the project.
Cllr Waite said: "It is wonderful to see visible progress on these projects. There has been a tremendous amount of work done by all the partners and the scheme as a whole will have long-lasting benefits for the community."
Cllr Murray said: "The town centre improvement scheme as a whole will foster a sense of local pride and belonging, as well as improving footfall and drawing people into the town centre. It is great to see it starting to all come together."
A wayfinding project will also see the addition of new interpretation boards to improve wayfinding throughout the town. The council has appointed a design agency, Make Things Happen, to help develop the project. The aim of the scheme is to use the panels to create an engaging outdoor trail that celebrates Kirkby Stephen's character, community and businesses. The panels will share local heritage, stories and little-known facts as well as practical direction and signage. The trail will capture the attention of visitors to the town and residents alike, directing them to areas of the town that they might not have thought to explore before.
In addition, Westmorland and Furness Council is working with partners from the Coast-to-Coast Path, which was recently awarded National Trail status. The Countryside Access Team will install better signage from the C2C into Kirkby Stephen, making sure walkers are aware of the facilities available in town.
Twenty two projects are sharing £8.1 million from the UKSPF and Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF), allocated by Westmorland and Furness Council, for schemes aimed at improving community and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.