Penrith Town Hall is a Grade II listed building soon to transform into a community and creative hub. Funding for the project worth £3.5 million has come from:
- the Government’s Levelling Up Fund
- the Borderlands Place Programme
The project aim is to create a central, welcoming space for the whole community.
Shaping the investment and future vision together
The Government’s Levelling Up funding outline for the Town Hall has created an opportunity to develop a space that complements the more business-focused offer of a new enterprise hub in the town centre. It shows a need to create a space for arts organisations, creative activity and community use.
The council is clear that vision is being shaped in collaboration with the community. It will enhance and support the sector, not compete with or duplicate existing work.
The next steps have been taken together through the community conversation and engagement programme.
Community conversation and engagement programme
Community involvement has been central to the project from the start. Residents have shared their ambitions for long-term benefits in transforming the building.
In September 2025, the Council ran a four-week community engagement programme. Residents, community groups and creative organisations each shared ideas for the future.
The council collated 116 suggestions from:
- 456 online survey responses
- 80 face-to-face conversations
We worked with a wide range of community and creative partners to hear from local residents.
The groups that got involved are:
- local schools and youth services
- elderly residents at Cold Springs Care Home
- Knit and Natter group attendees at Penrith Library
- people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
- members of the Penrith Refugee Network
- the Talkin Tables Group
The Council also worked with local organisations through visioning workshops. These included:
- the Borderlands Penrith Town Team
- Eden Locality Board
- Penrith Town Council
- a wide range of partner organisations
What we heard
The project should focus on the Town Hall becoming a well-used building. It should also support and complement existing community and creative organisations.
Residents and stakeholders wanted a mix of uses, focused on four main themes:
- community
- arts and creativity
- enterprise
- heritage and culture
There was strong support for the venue to be flexible, with multi-use spaces such as:
- performance or exhibition space
- community meetings
- events and ceremonies
The engagement activities with local residents also highlighted a need for:
- free wifi
- learning and social events
- financial sustainability
These community insights will now establish a high-level Strategic Outline Business Case and options for redeveloping Penrith Town Hall. The robustness of this case will also be informed by broader service considerations.
The options for Penrith Town Hall will be presented to Cabinet in April 2026. The chosen option will prioritise making the best use of the secured funding.
Engagement reports and findings
Find detailed notes and findings in the:
- visioning report (PDF , 1.2MB)
- visioning session (PDF , 1.2MB)
- youth consultation report (PDF , 3MB)
- survey response summary (PDF , 1.2MB)
Achieving the funding
In 2022, the former Eden District Council submitted a bid to the Levelling Up Fund, focused on the creation of a rural enterprise hub at Junction 41. The plan was to develop a mix of office, studio, workshop and collaborative space to support businesses, creatives and entrepreneurs across the Eden area.
When the Government announced in the Autumn Statement of November 2023 that funding would be awarded, circumstances had changed and the Junction 41 site was no longer available. To ensure Eden did not lose this significant investment, the council entered urgent discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) about redirecting the grant to alternative projects that could still deliver the original ambitions.
MHCLG agreed that this could happen, but there was a limited timescale to put forward a new proposal. In that short timeframe, officers worked quickly to develop a revised scheme which secured £4.09 million for a new town centre enterprise hub, designed to deliver many of the original objectives, alongside £3 million for the creation of a community and creative hub at Penrith Town Hall.
An outline proposal was approved, with MHCLG recognising that it remained in line with the vision first set out in 2022.
Contact us
If you’d like to know more, or need support accessing the survey or engagement events, please get in touch.