Dilapidated offices home to Canterbury City Council for the past 40 years have been put up for sale - with the likely purchaser being a housing developer.

The authority deems its headquarters in Military Road too large and expensive to keep running, therefore it is upping sticks to a smaller and more cost-effective base in the city centre.

The entire council operation will be relocating to the Whitefriars shopping complex as it takes over empty space above the former Top Shop unit, the Flying Tiger store and in the former RBS building in Rose Lane.

With the existing base surplus to requirements, bosses have now put the sprawling seven-acre site on the market.

A target price has not been advertised and the figure the council hopes to pocket is currently under wraps.

The prime site will only be on the market for a short spell of time, with the closing date for bids being on Tuesday, July 5.

It will likely be bought by a housing developer and the two-storey building will be demolished to make way for a residential estate.

The council, which hopes to have the sale finalised by the end of the year, has earmarked the site as a longer-term prospect for housing in its existing Local Plan.

With the authority planning to go well beyond its government allocation and build 17,000 new homes in the district by 2040, it needs as much available residential space as it can get.

Council leader Ben Fitter-Harding said: "Military Road is now completely unsuitable for our needs, being far too big and expensive to maintain, with major challenges to make it a more environmentally friendly building.

"Our exciting plans to be in the heart of the city centre, where we can serve our residents far more easily and our staff can support the local economy to a much greater extent, are progressing well, so now is the right time to be going ahead with the sale.

"Although we do not yet know how much we will receive for Military Road - the market will dictate the final figure - expectations are that it will at least cover the cost of the work required to repurpose the spaces in Whitefriars that we will move into."

The council's original plan three years ago was to move into a £12 million new-build in Wincheap, but the pandemic and the authority's tough financial situation sparked a drastic rethink.

Councillors then went on to agree an "environmentally friendly" move to Whitefriars earlier this year.

Cllr Fitter-Harding added: "As a brownfield site in an existing residential area, redevelopment of Military Road could be an excellent way of helping the district to meet its housing needs in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

"We will look at the bids that come in over the next few weeks and then make a decision on the right way to proceed."

The site is being marketed by agents Avison Young.

'Military Road is now completely unsuitable for our needs...'

Once relocated to Whitefriars, most of the council's staff will be based on the second floor of the former Topshop store, which would also have a small reception area on the ground floor.

But residents needing face-to-face appointments will go to a new front-of-house reception at the old RBS bank in Rose Lane.

The site would also host the print and mail service, and potentially become a base for the authority's enforcement officers.

Elsewhere, an empty space above Flying Tiger will be used as a storage area, while the council's CCTV control room will relocate to the Whitefriars management suite above Boots.