Nottingham City Council will continue to invest in a team of experts to sell off land and property it no longer requires.
The Labour-run authority wants to reduce its reliance on borrowing, so it has decided to sell off property which includes ‘former school sites and office buildings’ to generate some capital.
Last year, the council said it hoped to generate around £100m over the next few years from selling land and properties it no longer needs.
The council is being closely monitored by the government following the collapse of council energy company Robin Hood Energy.
It needs to make significant savings over the next four years or government commissioners could be called in to take it over.
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Under a delegated decision on 23 May – which means it took place outside of a council meeting – the local authority agreed to a total spend of £230,000.
This will ensure that four interim disposal surveyors can continue an ‘asset review’ as well as ‘disposal’ work until the end of December this year.
The report states: “Disposals Surveyors – had previously been identified in the council’s Recovery and Improvement Plan that the review and disposal of assets is a key priority to secure the council’s future financial position.
“Additional resource has previously been approved to facilitate this work. Good progress continues to be made with the 2021/22 capital receipt target being exceeded and a structured review of the commercial portfolio commencing.
“The retention of the resource in the short term is required to maintain this momentum and to assist in ensuring a sustainable pipeline of capital receipts for future years.”
It has also agreed to continue the work of an estate surveyor for Sneinton Market. The market is not being sold but the surveyor has worked on improving the facility.
Since the introduction of the post, the council says there has been “significant improvement in terms of tenant relationships, the letting of voids and the regularisation of occupations”.
The council says internal recruitment was rejected due to the need for qualified surveyors.
