Council set to press ahead with £10m a year property sell-off

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Scrapping the future sale of any Powys county farms and a £10 million annual target is “not advised” the council’s finance chiefs have warned.

At a Powys County Council meeting this Thursday, a cross-party notice of motion is set to be placed before councillors on the future of the county farms estate.

At the meeting, Powys Independents Cllr Gareth E Jones (Llanelwedd) will put forward a four-point motion on the issues which will be officially seconded by Plaid Cymru group leader, Cllr Elwyn Vaughan (Glantwymyn).

They will ask the council to: “Recognise the valuable contribution that council-owned farms play in supporting food production and enabling young entrants into farming.

“Regrets that selling council-owned farms risks reducing Powys food security and traditional farming practices.

“Calls on the council to impose a moratorium on the sale of its council-owned farms, until a sound County Farms management policy is agreed by Council. Scrap the arbitrary £10 million a year asset sales target.”

But the financial assessment explains that the capital receipts target is a central plank of the budget which was agreed by councillors back in February.

The assessment said: “Every £1 million reduction of capital receipts from the sale of council owned farms, would increase the borrowing requirement in order to fund the capital programme.”

This would mean an extra £50,000 to £60,000 each year on every £1 million the council needs to borrow to fund its building and maintenance projects.

The assessment continued: “If £10 million of capital receipts is not available to fund capital investment and this resulted in additional borrowing, this would result in an additional annual revenue cost.

“If approved, this motion will prevent the release of up to £10 million of capital receipts while also not reducing the council’s liability for these properties, their backlog maintenance and other investment requirements.

“It should be noted that this motion goes against the council’s Corporate Asset Policy (CAP) which states: to assist the council in delivering the priorities of the Corporate Improvement Plan, the council is committed to prompt and ongoing rationalisation of its buildings and land.”

The financial challenge facing the council in the next few years cannot be underestimated and to change policy independently now without considering the wider implications on the council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy is not advised.”

The future of the estate has long been a bone of contention due to plans to sell parts of it off in a bid to raise £10 million a year in “capital receipts” which could be used by the council to fund its building projects such as new schools.

In April, council leader, Cllr Jake Berriman (Liberal Democrat) apologised in his previous cabinet role to fellow senior councillors at a cabinet meeting after it was revealed that the council had only managed to make just over £1 million of the £10 million target as the 2024/2025 budget stood at the end of February.

This was because of sales falling through and delays with others.