TENS of millions of pounds are reported to have been lost by Somerset Council selling off assets as it battled to avoid going bankrupt in the past three years.

But, it could have been worse.

Councillors were told the strategy had been to sell off properties across the country over a four-year timeframe because acting quicker would have led to reputational damage and potentially lower sales figures.

BBC Somerset reported 28 properties bought by former district councils before they were taken over by the unitary authority had been sold for £128 million, representing a £39 million loss.

JLL UK region head of capital markets Olly Payne said the staggered sales were a ploy to avoid the council being seen as a ‘weak wildebeest’ in the eyes of ‘cheeky bidders’.

Mr Payne said: “We recommended a strategic sale of assets over a period of four years, because it is incredibly difficult at these current times to predict what is going to happen in the global property market, given everything that is going on in the world.

“Our market is basically built on debt, and debt is influenced hugely by inflation, interest rates, and all the other levers out in the global economy.

“It was a very sensible strategy, because if we had sold everything straight away, it would have been seen as a bit of a fire sale.

“This way, we have achieved better values for the individual assets.”

Mr Payne said the largest single sale was £14.4 million for the Steelite factory in Stoke-on-Trent.

A further five assets were under offer, with a combined guide price of more than £24 million.

The majority of sales were to small property companies, a large French investment company taking advantage of UK tax breaks, and private investors ‘with a lot of wealth… who like bricks and mortar’.

Mr Payne said continuing the ‘steady as she goes’ approach would enable the council to achieve the best value for taxpayers on the remaining sales and prevent any damage to its wider reputation.

He said: “When the news came out that the council was being told to sell its commercial assets, immediately everybody in the property market is aware of that.

“Approaches were made by some companies who said, ‘we will take everything at 50p in the pound’.”

Council leader Cllr Bill Revans welcomed the current position, and said a consistent message from Government would prove invaluable for the future of how local government was funded.

Cllr Revans said: “I am very aware that some councils have made investments which have put them in a position which is not sustainable.

“Other councils have benefited.

“We are not in the best position, but we are not in the worst position, either.

“It is a mid-table performance on this.

“We were encouraged to invest at one point by the Government, and then encouraged to sell the investments off.

“Isn’t it nice to have consistency in advice from our friends in Whitehall?”