Nottingham City Council is to spend £100,000 on a solicitor as its review on whether to sell off hundreds of its buildings continues. The authority is aiming to have reviewed 400 of the assets it holds by the end of this year as work continues to improve finances.
As part of this work, the council has just approved a contract extension for a property solicitor who has been leading it. The council says the contract will be extended for up to 12 months, at a cost of £100,000, because of "insufficient capacity" within its own staff.
Reviewing its assets is a key part of the 'Together for Nottingham Plan', which seeks to address the council's financial challenges. Over the last two years, £30 million has been generated from the sale of Nottingham City Council's assets.
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On its latest spend, the council says: "The work being undertaken by the locum property solicitor continues to support a key deliverable under the Together for Nottingham Plan. There still remains insufficient capacity within the existing permanent staffing establishment to deliver the number of disposals required.
"Retention of this additional resource is seen as vital in order to support this activity, especially with a further permanent member of staff due to leave in July 2023." The council was originally due to have reviewed 150 of its assets by the end of last year, but new documents show only 60 were completed.
The council says this was because asset reviews were put "on hold" last year so resources could be spent elsewhere. Work on completing them is now underway and by the end of this year, 400 further reviews are due to have been completed.
It has also been announced that the city council is reviewing all assets in its commercial portfolio worth over £1 million, with a report on this due in late July. A former leisure centre and a large car park are among the buildings that the council has decided to sell so far.
