Bedford borough’s mayor has rejected opposition claims of a “fire sale” of public assets after approving the sale of four council-owned commercial properties earlier this week.
The issue was raised at Wednesday’s Executive meeting (7 January), when cllr Doug McMurdo (Independent, Sharnbrook) questioned why the four sites had been brought forward for disposal at pace.
That’s despite them not appearing on a previously agreed list of surplus assets approved by Full Council.
The properties all approved for sale by mayor Tom Wootton (Conservative) through separate executive decisions signed on 5 January are:
- Brooklands Industrial Estate, Kempston
- Former Jewson’s Depot, London Road
- Manton Centre, Manton Industrial Estate
- Land at Windsor Road Industrial Estate
Cllr McMurdo told the meeting he had received “a flurry of emails” about the decisions.
“I describe this as a fire sale; we’re attempting to sell properties at a pace,” he said.
He pointed to an October Full Council decision which authorised the marketing of specific land and property assets listed in an appendix agreed by councillors at the time.
“But these four weren’t on that list. Is there a good reason that you’ve picked on these four and just put them onto the market, subject to the 10-day call-in first week in the new year?” he asked.
Responding, mayor Wootton rejected the suggestion of a fire sale.
“I think it’s a coincidence that they’ve come all together, but that’s often the way council business runs,” he said.
“Some of them are very elderly properties that would require a lot of work. These are the sort of things that are going to be money pits in the future. I’ve asked [officers] to come forward with property that could be sold.
“So I don’t think it is a fire sale, and I think we’re getting good value for money for several of these items,” he said.
Rental income loss
Cllr McMurdo said that the issue was not officer performance but decision-making by the administration.
He said he had visited some of the sites and questioned whether they were as outdated as suggested, adding that neighbouring council-owned properties were still being retained.
All four decision reports cite a review of the council’s commercial property investments and the need to generate capital receipts to support the approved capital programme.
In each case, the preferred option is a sale to the existing tenant, with a fallback to auction before the end of March 2026.
Taken together, the sales would result in a loss of more than £395,000 in rental income each year, according to figures in the reports.
Although officers say this is expected to be mitigated elsewhere in the council’s retained property portfolio. No sale prices or valuations have been published, with financial details contained in confidential appendices.
The decisions are subject to a call-in process if councillors want to scrutinise the decisions themselves.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
