Councils' big sell off

Fancy owning your very own historic landmark? Anyone interested in owning their own piece of history would do well to keep an eye on local auctioneers' brochures, as hundreds of historic buildings are to be sold off at bargain prices by local authorities.

Examples of buildings set to go under the hammer are the Grade-II listed St Giles Hospital in Camberwell, and the public swimming bathes in Rotherham with a guide price of £150,000. Even the central government is getting in on the act, selling the 85,000 sq ft former Land Registry Headquarters at Lincoln's Inn Fields for £37.5 million to LSE.

Some have suggested the councils' big sell off of hundreds of historic and valuable assets is a worrying turn of events, likening it to the previously proposed sale of 150,000 hectares of forest land. However, without investment it is likely many of these buildings would fall into disrepair; selling to developers becomes a way of safeguarding them for the future whilst also raising a bit of money for cash strapped councils. Which makes sense - as long as in a few years time the council doesn't end up renting them back for obscene amounts of money! Watch this space...