A CANNABIS farm has been discovered in a disused Kendal toilet block on a town centre car park used by hundreds of people every day.

Police raided the loos on New Road car park following a tip-off from a member of the public who spotted a number of youths loitering outside.

Twenty cannabis plants, each with a potential street value of about £500, were found in the ladies’ toilets area.

Police said the plants looked to be a couple of months old.

Detectives said they had been cultivated with the aid of lighting plugged into the toilet’s power source and the plants could have been growing there for two months.

Confiscation of the plants, tin foil and related paraphernelia, including wiring, was carried out in full view of motorists queuing up in rush hour traffic on New Road.

The conveniences were shut last January as part of a controversial public toilets closure programme by SLDC.

Yesterday, local people and business owners expressed their shock that a drugs ‘farm’ containing £10,000 worth of drugs could have been operating in such a central location without anyone noticing.

One Kendal woman, who did not want to be named, said she and her husband were passing in their car on the day of the raid.

“We were driving home and the traffic was queued up. We could see the police officers and my husband said: ‘They look like cannabis plants’.

I said don’t be silly but he was quite right. It is shocking to think there was a cannabis farm here in such a busy car park which so many people drive past every day.”

Staff at nearby National Tyres and Autocare told The Gazette that they had never seen any suspicious activity at the toilet block and were surprised when they saw police carrying the cannabis plants away from the scene.

Andrew Tamblin, who runs a financial advice service close to the car park, said: “I have never seen anything suspicious around the toilet block. If the council had kept the toilets open this wouldn’t have happened.”

Roger Crowther, of Specialist Cars, said: “I just thought the block was all boarded up. I have never seen anything suspicious there.

“The power should have been switched off when the block was closed.”

Mark McAdam, interim communications manager for SLDC, said there was no need to improve the system of checking empty toilets owned by the council.

A spokesman said: “The council inspects its premises on a monthly basis to ensure public safety. New Road toilets were part of a regular programme and when the building was last inspected on November 14, there was no evidence of a breach of security.

“We will fully co-operate with police as they continue the investigation.”

Insp John Stephens, of Cumbria Police, said officers went into the toilet block after noticing the smell of cannabis coming from a window.

He said those who had created the farm had gained access through a boarded up window on the River Kent side of the toilet block.

“Whoever set this up has taken a risk, but the premises back on to the river and it is not well lit at night, so members of the public would not have a clear view of them,” said Mr Stephens.

He added: “Disused premises can be used not just for drugs but for any criminal activity because they are off the radar, so I’m not surprised this has happened in that respect.

“If anyone has a disused building they might need to carry out checks. The message is to encourage people to keep reporting suspicious activity. We have taken large quantity of cannabis off the streets of Kendal.”

New Road is a large free car park on common land that SLDC is looking to landscape.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the investigation but have not been charged.