Совет Саутгемптона признал многомиллионные убытки при продаже муниципальных активов

Several sites were sold by Southampton City Council last year for significantly less than their recorded value. These disposals included the sale of an office block in Cambridge for £3.3 million. This was £2.1 million below the value recorded in the council’s accounts, known as its net book value (NBV). The former Citizens Advice Bureau building in Southampton city centre was sold before auction for less than half its NBV, with a capital receipt of £175,500. Overall, the council recorded a £1.8 million loss on asset disposals in 2025/26 when sale prices were compared with the values recorded in its asset register. The figures have emerged following Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) requests for information from the council’s draft statement of accounts. Opposition councillors said the situation should worry taxpayers and questioned the Labour administration’s approach to selling assets. The assets sold by the council in 2025/26, and the difference between the sale price and the value recorded in the council’s accounts, were: - Former Citizens Advice Bureau, 3 Kings Park Road – £180,500 loss - 130 to 132 Above Bar Street – £117,000 profit - 150 High Street – £8,667 profit - 151 High Street – £28,333 loss - 152 High Street – £3,333 loss - Houndwell Place student accommodation – £130,000 profit - Former Toys R Us site (leasehold) – £285,210 profit - Office site at 3 Ely Road, Cambridge – £2,116,430 loss All of the sales apart from the former Toys R Us plot were part of the local authority’s asset development and disposal programme (ADDP), which has been in place since 2024. 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If it is doing neither, that points to poor asset management. “Taxpayers should not be expected to watch millions of pounds of value disappear from the council’s property portfolio without a clear explanation of how and why it happened.” Reform UK deputy group leader Philip Crook and party finance lead Ross Mould said there were concerns about whether the council was achieving value for money through its asset disposal programme. They said: “The Southampton City Council Reform Group are scrutinising the budget and will be challenging a wide range of issues such as asset disposal. “If this Labour run council is keen to sell off the ‘family silver’, every effort should be made to ensure we as taxpayers are receiving value for money and if the decision to sell is future proof that will not cost us in the long run.” Green Party group leader Matt Renyard said the figures raised complex questions and that he would be requesting further scrutiny of the issue. Cllr Renyard said: “This latest set of figures does indicate some potential discrepancies between what the council thought it had on its books against the current market valuation in the real world, although it clearly does not suggest that any of the assets disposed of in this recent financial year were in any way undersold.” He said questions should focus on market conditions, whether the council sold assets at the right time and how the properties were valued. Conservative group leader Peter Baillie described the figures as “alarming”. He said: “While the Labour administration will try to minimise these losses as paper losses, the money involved is real money which will have to be found by the council. “It is also highly concerning that our valuations seem to be so inaccurate.” A council spokesman said NBV was an asset’s latest valuation for accounting purposes only, factoring in accumulated depreciation, while the profit-and-loss calculation was required under accounting rules. The spokesman said: “It does not have a direct impact on the council’s general fund position.” The council said the accounting value of a property can differ from the price it would achieve on the open market. The spokesman said Savills brought a number of benefits to the ADDP including economies of scale, consistency of valuation and experience in the property sector. Asset sales were competitively marketed and complied with the regulations of the Local Government Act, the spokesman added. Labour council leader Sarah Bogle said: “We take our duties under the Local Government Act very seriously and if there are specific concerns about getting good value for local taxpayers for any transactions, please do contact us directly.”