Westmorland and Furness have formally offered The Abbey Care Home for Sale
On 20 December 2024 Westmorland and Furness Council placed an Invitation to Tender Pack on the ‘chest’, inviting Registered Providers of affordable housing to buy the Freehold of the Abbey Care Home. The information says:
‘The redevelopment would involve creating a contemporary, high-quality scheme behind the historic façade of the existing building, with new-build extensions or detached additions replacing inferior quality architectural additions to the rear. There is 473 m² of space within the original building and currently a further 391 m² contained in later extensions (total 864 m²). It is anticipated the site would yield approximately eleven residential units.
The residential units developed by the provider could be of various sizes and tenure. It is envisaged that the site will be disposed of on a Freehold basis.
The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2025 at 2 pm.
The council say ‘once we have selected an affordable housing delivery partner we will arrange a meeting with you in Staveley to provide an update on the proposals’. A copy of the Tender Pack is available here, you might know of someone in a position to respond and work with the village to meet our needs.
In 2020 the Abbey Care Home closed its doors for the last time and the residents left for good. Local people objected: they presented a 2000 strong petition. It was their Abbey, it had always been their safe future if things got tough. Cumbria CC closed it anyway.
We produced an innovative, costed proposal that matched local needs. It was so exciting we were offered a £260,000 grant to prepare for the build and make our case even stronger. We created Staveley Community Trust (a Community Benefit Society) to allow us to acquire the Abbey site.
Hugh Tomlinson, CEO Age UK Southlakeland agreed with us that the proposal ‘demonstrates perfectly what can be achieved in an active Civil Society and your template project could certainly be duplicated across the country.’
Read more about what he said about us.
As of 1st April the Abbey Care Home site transferred to Westmorland and Furness Council, who promise to revisit the decision made by Cumbria County Council to sell the building to the highest bidder.
Following, an asset review the council decided that they would sell the building to a Registered Provider (RP) of affordable houses. This decision ignored the wishes of our community as expressed in their consultation or their espoused commitment to ‘working closely with residents and businesses to help them to shape their own destiny and thrive.’ Westmorland and Furness Priorities 2023.
At the moment, we cannot envisage how the community can acquire the Abbey Site for the community. The work of Staveley Community Trust has been put on hold. It remains a community benefit society and will continue to be available to meet it’s aims as stated in the society’s rules.
Where we are now?
Staveley Community Trust (SCT) was set up to develop the New Abbey on behalf of the community. Anyone can be a member and be part of this exciting new project.
Our proposal is for 16 extra-care apartments and a hub where you can meet up with friends, have a meal and get support if you need it.