Slough County Court won’t close if it is sold, council leader Dexter Smith has promised.

Leading councillors agreed on Thursday, October 17 that the Slough Borough Council-owned building housing the court on Windsor Road should be put up for auction.

The county court is where non-criminal cases – that’s family and civil cases – in Slough are heard.

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Councillor Smith confirmed that as the Ministry of Justice recently renewed its five-year lease, this would continue after the sale. He said: “Whatever we decide here isn’t going to mean that the court is going to close tomorrow.”

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The confirmation came after councillor Gurcharan Manku asked whether the court would have to leave the building vacant before the council could sell it.

Councillor Manku also asked whether the council could make more money by keeping the building itself. The council currently earns £107,750 a year from the lease.

Councill Manku said: “If we keep it long term will it give us more money? Will we get more return?”

But council finance staff said they had assessed that the council could make more money from selling the building than by continuing to receive rent from the Ministry of Justice.

They said the costs of paying off the council’s debts – which the property sale is intended to reduce – outweigh the income the money it receives in rent.

They said: “The assumed price is a greater net benefit to the council than the current ground rental income.

"So when you take a net-worth value approach on the disposal it would generate a better deal for the council over a period when taking into account the reduction of costs.”

Council staff also said that selling the building with the lease means potential buyers are more likely to bid a higher price for it, as it means they will benefit from the rent.

They said: “People are buying it with the benefit of that new lease which is why we’re not bringing it to the market to maximise the capital receipt because of that new lease that is in place.”

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The court building was earmarked for sale in October 2022 as part of the council’s efforts to pay off its debts by selling off properties it no longer needs.

Council plans say the sale would ‘contribute to the reduction in the council’s future financial commitments, generate disposal receipts at the earliest opportunity and reduce the borrowing’.

Councillors overseeing the asset sales agreed to recommend the auction to the rest of their leading colleagues on the cabinet committee. The committee looked set to approve this at a meeting on Monday October 21.