Council selling industrial estates to pay off debt

The council has put the Equity Trade Centre up for sale

A council has put two industrial estates up for sale for £16m to pay off some of its debt.

Selling properties and increasing council tax by 4.99% were two measures approved by Swindon Borough Council last week to help plug a £14.7m shortfall.

Council bosses have now confirmed they will sell Equity Trade Centre and the IO Centre on Hobley Drive in Stratton St Margaret.

Councillor Kevin Small, the council's cabinet member for finance, said: "The sale and that of a number of other freeholds will be used to pay off short-term debt."

The centres are part of a package of properties the council's cabinet agreed to sell in September, with the overall amount estimated to be about £22m, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

At the time, councillors were unable to confirm which properties were being sold.

The industrial estates are currently let to 22 tenants on 25 separate leases, which generates about £1.1m annually in rent for the authority.

Conservative shadow cabinet member for finance, councillor Dale Heenan, said the centres were "one of the crown jewels of Swindon Council's property portfolio".

"This is described as a temporary measure because it can help reduce short-term borrowing costs by sacrificing £1m in annual income – money which the council needs to replace within ten years and there is no long-term plan," Mr Heenan added.