Council looking to sell off £16m of unused buildings in Lincolnshire

A total of 76 sites around the county have been earmarked for disposal, which would also save £1.6m in running costs per year.

The leading economic councillor has promised that bad sales where the authority ended up renting the property back “won’t be repeated”.

Amongst the properties are council offices, travellers sites, council-owned farms and land which previously belonged to schools.

Coun Bayleigh Robinson (Ref) praised the council “cutting the fat and doing better deals than previous administration” during the Growth Committee on Tuesday, July 29.

Coun Liam Kelly, the executive member for growth, said he wanted to “Maximise revenue for council taxpayers as well as social value”, and would look into selling to community groups and trusts where relevant.

He added: “I know examples in the past where a property was sold and didn’t get the best value.

“It was then rented back to the council and the owner recovered costs within two years from the taxpayer. That will not be repeated again.”

81 properties have been sold over under the Conservative administration over the last four years, bringing £19m into the council’s coffers.

Mark Eyre, the Head of Strategic Asset Management, told the meeting: “We are looking into whether some services could be amalgamated into public sector hubs, so there are more things under one roof.”

However, there was criticism over the lack of scrutiny, and opposition members got an amendment passed that any sales could be brought back to committee for debate.

Coun Tom Dyer (Con) said “This isn’t more red tape, it’s about democratic accountability.”

He stressed that potential buyers needed to be carefully vetted, saying: “We need to make sure buildings don’t fall into the wrong hands.

“We’ve had previous interest from County Lines gangs [drug networks] in the past.

“We don’t want the Home Office to buy them for temporary asylum seeker accommodation, or end up with land covered with solar panels either.”

The council says that thorough investigations are carried out before any purchases are made.

There were also concerns about how the impending council shake-up would create more uncertainty on which buildings could be safely disposed of.