Penrith Town Council is preparing to award a contract production and installation of town council plans for a £196,116 town centre signage replacement project, despite not yet holding any public consultation on the final designs and plans for the town council Wayfinding and Interpretation Project.
The scheme, known as the Penrith Wayfinding and Interpretation Project, will replace current wayfinding signage installed in 2012 as part of a previous town branding and streetscape scheme. The council says the new signage will offer better direction for visitors and include updated interpretation panels about the town’s history.
In 2023, the council spent £5,000 developing a new town branding proposal, which has since been used on flags now installed along Middlegate. The branding is expected to feature in the new signage design.
The council has described the current signage that has been part of the town street scene for just 13 years as “outdated and poor-quality” and claims that replacing it will lead to a 5% annual uplift in both visitor footfall and retail turnover, as well as improvements to the physical appearance of the town centre.
The project is funded through the Borderlands Growth Deal, which awarded £3 million to Penrith for “place-changing” improvements. Other schemes using the remainder of the funding include the regeneration of Penrith Train Station, refurbishment of the Penrith Players Theatre, and plans by Westmorland and Furness Council to convert Penrith Town Hall into an arts and culture venue.
However, the Borderlands Growth Board, which oversees the release of funds, has told the town council it must carry out further consultation with residents, businesses, and stakeholders before funding can be accessed. To date, the council has only discussed the project with members of the Penrith Place Action Group, made up of representatives from Penrith BiD, Penrith Chamber of Trade, Westmorland and Furness Council, and the town council itself.
The town council has already obtained quotes for the design, production, installation, and ongoing maintenance of the signage. It told the Borderlands Board that those quotes are valid until August 2025. The council says it plans to begin procurement of the works in July, with the contract to be awarded in August and installation beginning in November.
A further £6,000 of the project budget has been allocated to developing a digital heritage trail by the town council.
Among the conditions set by the Borderlands Board is that the signage must not contain any advertising or promotion of third-party organisations. The town council is also required to provide proof that it owns the signage infrastructure it plans to replace. At present, the signs are not under its ownership.
Despite some of the proposed signage being located within the Penrith Town Centre Conservation Area, no planning applications have yet been submitted. The council was recently subject to enforcement investigations after installing flags throughout the conservation area without securing the necessary planning consent from Westmorland and Furness Council.
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