North Northamptonshire Council says it has saved more than £350,000 by closing Knuston Hall

A council said it has saved more than £350,000 by shutting a residential college and conference centre.

North Northamptonshire Council closed Knuston Hall, near Rushden, last September after it said it became financially unviable to keep it open.

The Grade II listed building was closed during the Covid pandemic and reopened briefly in 2021 before closing again in January 2022.

Surveys conducted then found it did not meet legal standards and work would need to be carried out on it.

The hall and its extensive grounds are on the market for £2m.

In council papers due to be discussed by the council’s executive next week, its executive director for finance and performance Janice Gotts said it lost out on about £372,000 in associated income from the hall being open.

But it also made salary savings of £488,000 and net savings in running costs of £241,000.

In total, the authority said it has saved £357,000 as a result of the closure.

According to estate agent Fisher German, which is selling the site for the council, the first and second floors include 47 bedrooms.

There are ‘numerous offices, meeting and function rooms’, a commercial grade kitchen, a preparation room, various storerooms and toilets on the ground floor.

The house is on a site which measures 2.8 hectares (7.15 acres) and includes car parking spaces and garden areas.

The site was bought by the former Northamptonshire County Council in 1949.

A house has stood there since at least the 17th century.

Tax records show a house had been built there by 1670 and part of its ground floor survives today.