UK sells empty buildings in £1bn auction
The Government has sold 106 properties in the South West as part of its drive to save money.
A unit was set up in Bristol to look at ways of selling off property no longer used by public bodies and raised almost £140 million in the South West, as part of a £1 billion countrywide auction of 771 sites.
Among the properties sold off are the whole site of Gloucester Docks, the Barbican Car Park, also in Gloucester, and the Cashes Green Hospital at Stroud.
Further south, a land and barn at Brains Lane, Sparkford, in Somerset, was sold in October 2011, along with the Lonsdale Centre in Bridgwater in December 2010.
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In Swindon and wider Wiltshire, plots at the M4 Wichelstowe development were disposed of, as was Castledown Business Park in Tidworth. In Dorset, sold sites included the young offenders institution at Portland and a house in Bridport.
Properties sold in Bristol include a house in Southmead, one in Knowle, land in Station Yard, Chipping Sodbury, land next to Turnpike House in Thornbury, in Oldbury-on-Severn and in Little Green Lane at Severn Beach.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said: “It is remarkable that the Government was paying for property that it just wasn’t using. Our strategy is to get out of expensive leases and concentrate on the properties we actually own. The £1 billion we have saved the taxpayer represents £60 for every working family.”
4 Comments
by bagonails
Saturday, March 16 2013, 9:34AM
“I suppose it didn't occur to the Government that they could maybe do something radical like *rent out* these properties? Y'know, like normal landlords do?”
by bath1946
Friday, March 15 2013, 10:37PM
“And why not sell off disused or underused military sites such as airfields or training grounds for housing ?”
by DaveBathwick
Friday, March 15 2013, 3:31PM
“boohoo, no £60 for me then being retired. But what a weird statement, citing 'working family' rather than 'taxpayer' which is a more accurate reflection on who actually paid for these public buildings in the first place. And don't 'working families' receive a whole heap of subsidies from the taxpayers anyway?”
by BV_BV
Friday, March 15 2013, 2:57PM
“That's great! When will we get our £60?”