Property sell-off raises funds for Whitehall

The portfolio of land and property interests ranged from Barnsley County Court to a field in Ilkley.

Driving test centres in Harrogate and Scunthorpe, Whitby Magistrates’ Court as well as land and property at the Midlands Mills and Penningtons Mill sites in Bradford were also on the list.

The sale was part of a wider push by the Government to offload unwanted property nationally that has earned the Treasury £1bn.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said: “It’s remarkable that the Government was paying for property that it just wasn’t using. That kind of waste is always unacceptable – but is completely unjustifiable when we are trying to reduce the deficit and get ahead in the global race.

“In the past Government took out expensive leases at the taxpayer’s expense on new properties even though freehold space was under-used or even empty. Our strategy is to get out of expensive leases and concentrate on the properties we actually own.

“Since the General Election we have slashed wasteful spend on buildings and negotiated great money making deals. The 
£1bn we have saved the taxpayer represents £60 for every working family.

“Now we have reached this milestone, we will push ahead with a new phase of cross-government work to encourage all officials to work more flexibly to reduce our dependency on expensive public sector buildings and save the taxpayer even more.”

The latest sales follow the high profile deal last year which saw the Government dispose of the former headquarters of Yorkshire Forward.

The deal attracted criticism as it saw medical defence organisation Medical Protection Society secure Victoria Place in Leeds for around £8m, around half what the regional development agency originally paid for it.

The Government insisted that the deal represented the fall in the commercial property market and no other public sector use could be found for the building.

In addition to the sale of property, Ministers say they are looking at ways of making better use of buildings by bringing together civil servants from different departments.