Plan to sell 79 council buildings put on ice

Peterborough City Council said the list of 79 buildings at risk of being sold is under review

A plan to sell off council-owned buildings has been put on ice.

The previous Conservative administration at Peterborough City Council (PCC) had drawn up a list of 79 community buildings it could put on the market. 

The full list was not made public but contained 36 community centres, 17 children's centres, 10 libraries, seven leisure facilities and nine buildings marked 'other'.

However, in a new update, Peterborough First councillor John Howard, said "nothing will be sold this year".

Mr Howard, council's deputy leader added: “No decisions will be looked at until after the new year when we’ve met every community group individually.

“Then we’ll come forward with proposals when we’ve done that part.” 

The Peterborough First group, made up of 11 independent councillors, were encouraged to take this approach by other parties in the council.

Liberal Democrats leader for Peterborough, Councillor Christian Hogg, said: "Now every asset will be considered individually by the council's cabinet before potentially being sold."

Green Party leader, Councillor Nicola Day, supported the move and said: "Before, it was just a disposals list with a property team visiting the sites, but now there’s now a community team also visiting and making sure they’re listening to the users and stakeholders."

Rising budget gap

The purpose of selling assets was to save the council money, at a time when it faced a rising budget gap.

The independent improvement panel, which currently oversees council finances, backed the sale of assets and said in a recent report that the project had only just started to gather the momentum it needed. 

"We've got to listen to people, but the way I look at it, it's in the public interest that we look after the council's affairs as well," Labour's deputy leader, Councillor Amjad Iqbal, said.

He added that he agreed that each building should be looked at on a “case-by-case basis”, but said there was a delicate financial balance to be struck. 

The review will be discussed by councillors at a public meeting in January.