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Several car parks worth more than £1million could be sold off to help ease financial pressures on a cash-strapped council.
Medway Council has identified several parking facilities it’s looking to offload to help balance its books and scale down costly maintenance spending.
Among the latest large assets identified for disposal are the 544-space multi-storey car park in The Brook, Chatham, adjoining the Pentagon Shopping Centre, and the Britton Farm public car park in Gillingham.
It’s believed offloading these two facilities will save the council £4.3m in required maintenance alone.
Revenue savings of around £12,500 per year are also predicted when including other car parks on the for sale list, such as the Upper Mount in Chatham, Albatross Avenue in Strood, Cuckolds Green Road in Lower Stoke, and Rochester High Street.
In total, the estimated capital savings from the sale of these assets is expected to be around £1.1m.
This figure does not include Britton Farm as this car park will be included in the future sale of the shopping mall, nor The Brook, as the cost of demolition, at £3million exceeds its value.
In October, Labour-run Medway Council revealed an initial list of 30 properties poised to hit the market.
This included selling off major properties such as Temple Manor, a grade-I listed manor house in Strood, Gillingham Business Park, and Rainham District Shopping Centre.
Eight other operational properties, with a value of around £2million, have also now been added to that list.
These include Hopewell Business Centre and the St George’s Centre in Chatham Maritime, which is occasionally used for council meetings, as well as public toilets in Rainham Shopping Centre, Cooling Village Hall, and The Street, High Halstow.
If these are all disposed of, its’s projected this will result in revenue savings of around £175,000 per year and reduce required maintenance by around £366,000.
Some of these properties have a value of under £500,000 per property and can therefore be disposed of using officer’s delegated powers.
However, most are operational and so a decision will need to be put before cabinet.
Schools, open spaces, parks and allotments are not being considered for sale as the council says “very little/nothing” will be gained from their disposal.
Councillors will discuss the latest proposals at the regeneration, culture and environment committee next Wednesday (February 26).
Recommendations will then go before full cabinet on March 11 for a decision.
