Council accused of £10m ‘fire sale’ of property

Wedding venue Larkbeare House is among the properties earmarked to be sold

A council's plan to sell off six properties and land worth up to £10m has been condemned as a "fire sale".

Devon County Council's opposition leader said the move was a desperate attempt to raise money in a depressed property market.

The council says however, it expects to save £300,000 in annual running costs and avoid a maintenance bill of between £3m and £5m.

It will relocate any staff or services based in the properties, it said.

Four properties are for sale in Exeter, including wedding venue Larkbeare House.

A further two are earmarked to be sold in Barnstaple, including Pottington Industrial Unit, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But opposition Liberal Democrat leader Julian Brazil said the timing of the sale was wrong and that the council would not get as much income as it could do at a different time.

He told fellow councillors at a meeting of the council cabinet: "It looks like a fire sale and sounds like one.

"It’s symptomatic of the lack of a strategic approach that means we’re looking to sell off assets at the worst time in the cycle for commercial property."

'Rationalise property portfolio'

But council leader John Hart said the authority was "responding to changes in the post-Covid world".

"It makes sense to rationalise our property portfolio, Mr Hart said

"We know what we want to get from the sales, so let’s see what’s offered."

The council owns, leases, or occupies more than 1,000 properties, parcels of land and farms, including roughly 300 operational buildings, such as offices, children’s centres, libraries and youth centres.

An authority report has shown that since the pandemic its office estate was only occupied on average between 20 and 30% each day.