Green light for plans to turn former pencil factory into Keswick Convention base

Work to turn a former pencil factory site into the new home of Keswick Convention will begin later this year after full planning permission for the scheme was given.The Lake District National Park Authority voted to support the application and the planning department granted full approval last week.The site’s owner, Keswick Ministries, are set to refurbish the site as a new base for the Christian convention and a conference centre.As well as the convention, the facility will host Keswick Ministries’ teaching and training courses, as well as visiting church, school and local community groups.The convention is one of Keswick’s leading summer tourist events with research estimating that each year the thousands of people who attend the event bring more than £3m to the area.Work on the trees has already taken place to ensure that birds and other wildlife aren’t disturbed in the nesting season.The whole convention will move to the combined pencil factory and Rawnsley site in 2020.Keswick Ministries will be holding tours at the factory during the convention and providing more information about the refurbishment plans to conventioners and the town.For more than 100 years, the Keswick Convention has drawn thousands of people from all over the world to the Lake District to hear leading Bible teaching.