Slough Borough Council is aiming to raise almost £79 million through the sale of council-owned assets by 2028/29 as part of efforts to reduce borrowing and improve its financial position.
The cash-strapped authority is working towards ending its reliance on Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from the Government by 2028/29. EFS is a form of borrowing that allows councils to cover day-to-day spending when facing financial difficulties.
Generating income through asset sales has been identified as a key part of the council’s recovery strategy.
At a cabinet meeting on June 22, councillors approved the council’s 2026-2030 Asset Management Plan, which sets out how council-owned properties and land will be managed in the coming years.
Under the strategy, assets will be assessed to determine whether they should be retained, refurbished, invested in or sold. Properties will be categorised as either strategically essential, operationally useful and subject to review, or surplus to requirements.
A provisional report on the council’s financial position revealed that Slough is targeting £79.4 million in asset disposals by 2028/29. Nick Penny, the council’s Director of Finance, Corporate and Commercial, described the target as a significant challenge. He said: “That’s clearly a lot of sales and a lot of assets. There was prudence put into that forecast in terms of the confidence levels of when sales would be generated.But that is still a challenging ask.”
Mr Penny warned that failure to meet the target would increase the council’s borrowing requirements and leave it with higher levels of debt.
The council’s property portfolio has suffered from what officers described as historic underinvestment in maintenance and refurbishment, making decisions about future investment and disposals increasingly important.
Council leader Councillor Wal Chahal said an asset disposal committee said the authority was keen to avoid selling properties below their value. “Our focus is making sure that we make those sales without throwing assets away to ensure that we fit in line with the medium-term financial strategy that we’ve set,” he said.
Councillor Gurcharan Manku said the council should have contingency plans if market conditions make it difficult to achieve expected sale values.
Peter Walsh, the council’s Acting Director of Property, said the authority was working closely with external advisers to assess market conditions and identify the right time to bring assets to market. “We know what assets we’ve got, and we know what assets we need to sell and what we’re trying to do is make sure that we’re releasing them at the right time,” he said.
