South Lakes development Trust has secured some extra free parking in Windermere, to offset the temporary loss of spaces on Crescent Road.

After approaches by the Town Centre Manager Paul Holdsworth, South Lakeland District Council has agreed to provide 44 free short term parking spaces in Broad Street car park. These spaces are now free of charge for two hours, enabling shoppers to access Windermere Village easily, at no extra cost. The free spaces are operational now, and will be availble until March 14.

"With the roadworks on the A591 drawing to a close, and extra Carillion manpower coming into the village centre, the contractors agreed to install signs directing shoppers to the Broad Street car park. I was concerned that this would be misinterpreted as SLDC cashing in on traders' problems, by making extra money out of shoppers displaced from the free on-street spaces," said Paul. "So I approached the district council again, urging them to reconsider.

"Impressively, the council not only agreed to release some spaces, but it offered the whole of the short stay section of the car park - that's 44 spaces! Even more impressively, SLDC pulled out all the stops to get the decision made and implemented in super-quick time."

While this help won't eliminate the disription in the village, it should go some way to keep shoppers coming in to this important local service centre.