Shops and offices may be sold by council for £21m

Appendices to the report list the properties for sale, but these are being kept as private and confidential papers

Shops, offices, industrial buildings and even farms could be sold by a council.

Swindon councillors are considering the sale to raise £21m for the borough council.

The ruling Labour cabinet will hear a report from Rob Richards, the authority's head of property assets, setting out the case for selling some of the properties it owns and lets in return for commercial rent.

“The council’s appointed commercial property consultants, Hartnell Taylor Cook, have been instructed to inspect the properties and advise on their saleability," a report said.

The council is predicting a multi-million pound deficit in its budget and has previously warned its finances are on a "cliff edge".

Members of the public are not yet allowed to know which ones, nor how much the council might receive in return for each one.

Appendices to the report list the properties for sale, but these are being kept as private and confidential papers.

The report does say they provide an annual rent of £1.4m, and if they are all sold the council could hope to make £21.3m after fees to agents.

The publicly available report said: “The properties are all leased to business tenants on commercial terms.

"The lease lengths are for a variety of years, but the majority are long ground leases, with one multi-let industrial estate being on a number of relatively short leases to a variety of businesses."

The report acknowledges that selling the properties would reduce the long-term income the council receives in rent.

The cabinet meeting to consider the move is on Wednesday.