Kendal is a town full of talent, history and potential - but let’s be honest with ourselves: we have been drifting for far too long.
For nearly twenty years, the Liberal Democrats have presided over Kendal, and in that time they have allowed the town to slide steadily into demographic decline, economic stagnation and a growing sense that the future is something happening somewhere else.
'Tired Tim' is out of ideas...and what he has delivered is inertia.
Meanwhile, the challenges have mounted:
- A shrinking, ageing population - and a steady exodus of young workers who no longer see a future here.
- Rising economic inactivity, driven by long-term illness and early retirement, leaving fewer people able to drive local growth.
- A town centre that has been allowed to underperform for years, with a fading evening economy and too little ambition to revive it.
- A shortage of higher-value jobs and no serious plan to keep talent in Kendal rather than losing it to Manchester, Lancaster, London, or Leeds.
- Persistent congestion and poor active-travel links that make moving around the town slow, inconvenient and unattractive.
- A real risk of long-term decline if we refuse to act - and a clear need for decisive political leadership to turn the tide.
And despite all this, the Liberals have put forward no serious long-term plan to reverse the trend. Not one.
Yet Kendal is not short of opportunity - only leadership.
The £13.48 million Heart of Kendal programme is a rare moment of genuine possibility: a new Kendal College campus in the shopping centre, a revived Market Hall, upgraded public spaces and a riverside active-travel route that could reshape how people move around the town. These ideas are good. The question is whether they will actually be delivered - and history gives us reason to doubt the current leadership.
Kendal needs momentum, not more management by press release.
What we are arguing for is simple: a ten-year, high-ambition Conservative plan that takes this initial investment and turns it into real, visible progress.
A Kendal that young people want to stay in, where businesses can grow, and where the town centre feels alive again.
This is not complicated. Between 2026 and 2028, we can overhaul the heart of the town: transform the Market Hall into a proper cultural and food hub, make Market Place and Kent Street places people actually want to spend time in, and put the new college campus at the centre of an economy that values skills and innovation.
We can build the homes people actually need - affordable, mixed, close to the centre - instead of watching local workers priced out.
We can grow the economy by backing start-ups, expanding digital and creative training, and making Kendal a natural base for remote workers and small businesses who want quality of life without losing connectivity.
And we can fix the basics: safer streets, cleaner air, better walking and cycling routes, and public spaces that show pride rather than decay.
If we choose this path, Kendal can genuinely turn the corner.
We could see new jobs - hundreds of them - and a meaningful rise in the number of working-age people living in the town.
We can revive the evening economy and pull vacancy rates down to levels seen in successful market towns across the UK. We can make Kendal a cultural centre for the Lakes.
But none of this will happen if we carry on as we are. The Liberals have had two decades to act. They have not delivered the structural changes Kendal needs. They have not reversed the decline. They have not grasped the seriousness of the demographic challenge we face.
If Kendal wants something different, they must vote for something different.
That is why I am saying this bluntly: if you want a Kendal that grows rather than shrinks, prospers rather than drifts, leads rather than follows, then elect Conservatives - and elect people like me who are here to set a new direction and actually deliver it.
