Council to dispose of 'inadequate' 1930s hall
BBCA council has voted to dispose of a nearly 100-year-old building said to be "obsolete" for modern working.
The County Hall, in Kendal, Cumbria, has not been used since September 2024, with Westmorland and Furness Council having moved the services based there to other buildings.
Its functions had included customer services, registrations and ceremonies, democratic services and public meetings.
Liberal Democrat Andrew Jarvis, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said: "To be clear, County Hall might be a shining example of 1930s civic architecture, but it is terribly inadequate for a modern organisation, nearly a century later."
The hall was the headquarters of the former Westmorland County Council from 1939 to 1974, and was also used by Cumbria County Council until a shake-up of local government in 2023.
'Not fit for purpose'
A report in 2024 highlighted health and safety risks as well as issues such as inadequate access in relation to the Equality Act, including the lack of a lift.
Repairs were estimated to cost more than £7m, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Services.
Jarvis said the problems were exacerbated by the building being listed.
He added: "To quote from the report, all indicators point to a building that is physically, functionally, environmentally and economically obsolete."
It will now either be sold or transferred to a community organisation.
However, the council will retain the car park at the back of the building.
Fellow Lib Dem councillor Janet Battye told colleagues that before its closure she had tried to organise a meeting in an upstairs room but a member of the the working group "could not access that room because he was in a wheelchair".
"I became convinced very quickly that this building was not fit for purpose, beautiful though it may be," she said.
