AMONG its large-scale sales of Slough Borough Council’s (SBC) assets in order to reduce its £680m borrowing debt, the four out-of-borough properties are the first to go.

The council’s interim chief financial officer Steven Mair and his finance team, dubbed ‘the A-team,’ unearthed several historic accounting errors and mis-statements that forced the local authority to go bust and effectively declare bankruptcy in July 2021.

Before its financial crisis, SBC was buying property and land in order to create more affordable housing as well as get some income from renters to fill the decreased funding from government caused by austerity.

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The council owns approximately 6,700 assets that are worth £1.2bn. Up to half of its properties and land are to be sold off to reduce its gargantuan borrowing debt and bridge its £479m blackhole.

Among the assets it bought are four properties outside Slough, which a Freedom of Information (FOI) revealed SBC spent over £30m on.

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These include an Odeon Cinema in Basingstoke, a Waitrose supermarket in Gosport, a Wicks retail warehouse in Wolverhampton, and an Expect Distribution warehouse in Bradford.

Within the FOI, it revealed the council bought the Odeon Cinema in 2019 for £7.9m. The Wicks was purchased for nearly £6.7m in 2017, the £3.5m Waitrose was bought the same year, and the Expect Distribution warehouse was bought for a whopping £11.9m in 2019.

Slough Observer: The Odeon Cinema in Basingstoke was bought for £7.9m in 2019The Odeon Cinema in Basingstoke was bought for £7.9m in 2019 (Image: Google Maps)

SBC originally believed these purchases were a good way to pump extra cash into revenue, but council leader James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) previously said the return they bring is “not as generous” as they were led to believe once they accounted for the corrected borrowing costs to buy them.

The FOI shows SBC was getting hundreds of thousands of pounds in rental income from the properties.

The Expect Distribution had the highest income at £774,304 whereas Waitrose only gave £250,000. The council earned £611,245 from the Odeon Cinema and £482,640 from Wicks.

Slough Observer: Expect Distribution warehouse in BradfordExpect Distribution warehouse in Bradford

Lead commissioner Max Caller, who was sent in by government to oversee Slough’s recovery, said they are “very close” to selling off the assets and expect some of the first wave properties to be sold better than what they are valued for.

Cllr Swindlehurst previously hinted SBC’s headquarters’ Observatory House, which was bought for £39m from a company called Jersey Limited, is on the table of being sold off.

Slough Observer: Observatory HouseObservatory House (Image: Google Maps)

However, the FOI stated the council is “not currently seeking a purchaser”.

A list of the first wave of properties that are due to be sold off is expected to come to cabinet sometime later this year.