Review of council-owned 'surplus' land

The proposals come after a county council review of land and property. A special task force was set up to investigate after some members said they heard too late in the process about sales of surplus land, and were concerned the council was 'selling off the family silver'.

The issue has special significance for the Chichester area, where the county owns very large areas of potentially surplus land to the south of the city.

The county council currently has a portfolio of operational properties worth an estimated 2.5bn, plus some reckoned to be potentially surplus to requirements, and others firmly identified as property disposals.

Sales of surplus land have for many years provided a substantial source of income often running into millions of pounds a year, usually ploughed into new county building schemes. The task force called for a cabinet-level review of some aspects of the current county property policy.

Its report said some priority should be allocated to retaining assets within the public sector, and precedence given to community use before county property was disposed of on the open market.

Full story in West Sussex Gazette, September 8