Community meeting to be held following fatal fire

A meeting is being held to discuss community recovery plans following a fatal fire.

More than 100 residential properties and 84 businesses were directly impacted in the blaze in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, in the early hours of 8 December.

Shop owner Ben Taylor, 45, died in the fire which tore through buildings on Main Street, where he lived.

Westmorland and Furness Council has invited residents and businesses to a meeting in Lunesdale Hall at 17:30 GMT to discuss items such as road closures and a recovery strategy.

Business owner John Short told BBC Radio Cumbria the town was still quiet a month on from the fire, partly because of road closures.

"Parts of the town, in a way, are cut off," Mr Short said.

The council said it was reviewing safety cordons but said properties directly impacted by the fire will remain inaccessible until stabilisation work was completed.

The authority said it would work with those in the area to develop both a community and economic plan.

Its aims included helping people "find their own personal paths to recovery" including financial and wellbeing support.

A disaster recovery appeal has raised more than £89,000 to help support people affected by the fire.

The Kirkby Lonsdale Fire Disaster Recovery Appeal was launched with a donation of £50,000 from the Liberal Democrat-led council.

A separate Go Fund Me page set up by Lunesdale Hall charitable trust, working with Kirkby Lonsdale Community Recovery Partnership and Cumbria Community Foundation, has closed.

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