Mintsfeet depot, County Hall, the Kendal East family hub site and land on Fowl Ing Lane are on the council's surplus list, plus Milnthorpe's old toilets.
Four council properties in Kendal are on a list of sites Westmorland and Furness Council no longer needs. They are the Mintsfeet highways depot, County Hall, the Kendal East family hub site on Grasmere Crescent and a piece of land on Fowl Ing Lane.
The list went to a meeting of the full council at Kendal Town Hall on Thursday 24 September. It covers 12 sites across the district. Councillors were asked to confirm them as “surplus to current service needs” and add them to the capital programme. (Westmorland and Furness Council, Assets Surplus to Current Service Needs report, 24 September 2026)
The council had not published the outcome of the vote by Friday evening. Its decision record for the item still reads “For Determination”. (Westmorland and Furness Council, issue details)
The Kendal and south Lakes sites on the list
| Site | When Cabinet declared it surplus |
|---|---|
| Mintsfeet Highways Depot, Kendal | 15 July 2025 |
| County Hall/Offices, Kendal | 21 April 2026 |
| Site at Kendal East, 42a Grasmere Crescent, Kendal | 14 July 2026 |
| Land adjacent to Wainwright House, Fowl Ing Lane, Kendal | 14 July 2026 |
| Former Milnthorpe Public Conveniences, Market Square | 14 July 2026 |
| Former Low Fold Public Conveniences, Ambleside | 14 July 2026 |
| Former Cartmel Public Conveniences | 14 July 2026 |
The dates come from the Cabinet papers for each meeting. (Cabinet, 15 July 2025, minutes; Cabinet, 14 July 2026) Milnthorpe is about seven miles south of Kendal. Ambleside is about 13 miles north west and Cartmel about 12 miles south west.
The other five sites are outside the south Lakes:
- 22 Sutherland Street, Barrow
- the Nan Tait Centre and car park, Barrow
- land east of the A595 at Foxfield, Broughton in Furness
- land at Long Lane and Billings Road, Dalton-in-Furness
- land at Silver Street, Kirkby Stephen
What happens to a surplus site
Being declared surplus does not mean a site is sold straight away. The report sets out five stages. Each site is:
- declared surplus to service needs
- offered to other council services
- assessed for keeping as a source of income
- screened for transfer to a partner organisation
- screened for a Community Asset Transfer
At the last stage it can be offered to a community group, sold on the open market or demolished.
Once the full council confirms the list, the decision to sell is delegated to an officer. The Strategic Director of Resources can authorise a sale after consulting the Leader and Deputy Leader. The Estates and Investment Manager picks the method of sale.
County Hall is the exception. The report calls it, with Barrow’s Nan Tait Centre, an asset “of significant community interest”. Both disposals “will be subject to Cabinet approval”, so they come back to a public meeting.
Any sale or transfer worth more than £750,000 must also go through the key decision process. The council must get the best price it can reasonably obtain, under Section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972, but it has some discretion to sell below value.
County Hall will be offered in lots
The report adds one new detail on County Hall. It will be offered “in lots and as a whole”, together with the neighbouring Land at Busher Walk. That land was declared surplus by the old Cumbria County Council and passed to Westmorland and Furness at reorganisation. The council says splitting it this way will “optimise the number and level of offers”.
We reported in August that the council wants to take three areas of the County Hall car park out of public use as part of the sale. The main pay and display car park at the rear is being kept. (Kendal News, 15 August 2026)
The Kendal East family hub site
The Grasmere Crescent entry is labelled “Family Hub site: Kendal East” on the council’s site plans. Neither the Cabinet papers nor the council report say what has happened to the services there.
The council’s online hub finder no longer lists an East South Lakeland hub. Its old page now returns “Access denied”, and the family information directory entry for it has been removed. The one Kendal hub on the finder today is Kendal West, at St Thomas’ School in Kendal Green, LA9 5PP. (Westmorland and Furness Council, Find a Best Start Family Hub) We checked all three pages on 25 September.
Mintsfeet has been on the list since July 2025. The report that put it there does not give a reason beyond it no longer being needed for services. (Cabinet report, 15 July 2025)
What it means for you
- If you run a community group or charity that could use one of these sites, the Community Asset Transfer stage is your opening. It comes before an open market sale. The council’s report is the place to start, and the contact named on it is Susan Roberts, Director of Finance.
- If you use family services in Kendal, the hub finder lists Kendal West at St Thomas’ School in Kendal Green.
- If you care what happens to County Hall, its sale has to go back to Cabinet. That meeting is where it will be decided in public.
- Any money raised is capital, not money for day to day services. The council says it will be considered first under its Flexible Capital Receipts Strategy.
We will report the full council’s decision when it is published. More on the town: Kendal planning news, parking in Kendal and Kendal council tax bands.
Have your say