Several more properties to be sold off as council’s need to sell assets ‘significantly increases’

The need to sell property has 'significantly increased'

Several properties owned by Nottingham City Council will be sold off to help the authority balance its budget and ‘pay back’ emergency support granted after it declared itself effectively bankrupt last year.

The Labour-run council says its need to sell off property has “significantly increased”, particularly after it was given special permission to use money from asset sales to fund day-to-day running costs.

Asset sales are now being used to ‘pay back’ up to £65m in Exceptional Financial Support, granted by the Government to help the council set a balanced budget in 2023/24 and 2024/25. The support came after the council declared itself effectively bankrupt in November last year.

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“Following the successful application to Government for Exceptional Financial [Support] (EFS), the requirement to generate capital receipts has significantly increased in order to ‘pay back’ the EFS in addition to funding transformation costs, to reduce our debt and fund a future capital programme,” council documents from July said.

“Consequently, there is a need to further increase the pipeline, both within year and for future years.” Four more properties that are no longer needed will now be disposed of, according to four separate new delegated decision documents.

Units 9 and 9A, based in Poulton Drive and used by Rinus Roofing Supplies, are to be sold by the council. A member of staff working at the business, who asked not to be named, confirmed the building was being disposed of by the council.

“We have an agreement for a few more years yet, we hope the new owner will let it back out,” they said. “We don’t really know what is happening to be honest.”

A plot of land in Fellows Way, which sits off University Boulevard and near to the Nottingham Tennis Centre, will also be put on the market for sale. Delegated decision documents say the University of Nottingham will be contacted about the land to see if it is interested in purchasing it.

The third property is the site of a supported living facility in Claremont Road, and the fourth property is a former Pupil Referral Unit in Fairmead Close. Unlike the other property assets, money from the sale of the Pupil Referral Unit, which had been situated at the Thorneywood Education Base, will be used for other education purposes.

Over the past four years the council has made £80m from asset sales, and a review which began last year has identified a further £66m-worth of property assets that it no longer needs.

In its reasoning for the ongoing sales, the council said: “The council had faced a budget gap of over £50m for 2024/25 due to issues facing councils across the country, including increased demand for children’s and adults’ social care, rising homelessness presentations and inflation.

“This has meant savings of over £36m need to be made between 2024/25 to 2027/28 to set a balanced budget, which is a legal requirement for all councils. In addition, the council has been granted Exceptional Financial Support from the Government of up to £66.143m – £25m for 2023/24 and £41.143 in 2024/25.

“EFS is not additional funding from Government but allows the council to use capital resources, including from asset sales to fund revenue costs for services.”