A sell-off of council-owned properties could raise less money than had been hoped, new documents have revealed.

Slough Borough Council had hoped to raise £600 million from property sales after going effectively bankrupt in 2021. But the amount it has raised so far has fallen far short of what the council had hoped – causing council leaders to have to rethink the plan.

A report to council leaders this week suggests that the values of council properties had fallen since 2021 ‘due to a number of external factors such as market conditions and interest rates borrowing’. It says this ‘causes a challenge’ in hitting the £600 million target.

Slough Borough Council initially believed it had £600 million worth of assets it could sell as it began its programme of sell-offs in 2021. It had hoped that it could raise £400 million of this by March this year, and the other £200 million after that.

But a report to council leaders earlier this year revealed that it had only raised £223.5 million by March 2024 – just over half than what it had planned. It said the target of raising £600 million by 2027 was now ‘unrealistic’.

Now council officials are re-evaluating the council’s properties so that they can reconsider which of them should be sold off. They are set to update leading councillors at a cabinet asset sales committee meeting on Thursday, September 12.