WEST Somerset Council will have to spend over £5 million repairing buildings it owns over the next 30 years – more than £1 million in the next five years – if its current asset strategy continues, a report has revealed.

And the council’s scrutiny committee was told last Thursday that income from the council’s assets was expected to be insufficient to maintain all its property.

The members were told: “Anticipated expenditure is greater than income over the next 30 years, therefore as assets they are performing poorly.”

Councillors heard that, out of the authority’s 203 assets – ranging from land and bridges to bus-shelters – only three are viable.

They are the council’s headquarters in Williton, Roughmoor Enterprise Centre, Williton, and Minehead’s Jubilee Café.

The Enterprise Centre has generated £1,149 million profit over 30 years.

On the other hand, the council was faced with spending £583,000 on the Roughmoor depot and £78,000 on Barns Close, Dulverton within the next five years.

The council’s asset manager, Tim Child, said there were 41 assets which, from a non-financial point of view, there was no point in keeping.

Four that he said the council needed to “absolutely retain” were Watchet lighthouse, the harbourmaster’s office and West Somerset House and boiler-house.

Asked to comment on a new asset strategy for 2017-20, the scrutiny committee was told that, without considerably increasing property budgets, the council could no longer afford to adequately maintain its assets.

In a report to the committee, Mr Child said that the full council would be asked to approve a new draft asset strategy which would ensure that the council’s land and property portfolio was managed and maintained in a consistent strategic manner.

He said there were key challenges which needed to be overcome to enable the portfolio “to be viable rather than unsustainable, due to low income in relation to forecast expenditure”.

But the new strategy, if approved, should provide a clear route-map for doing things differently, to improve the performance of the portfolio – to invest or acquire, maximise returns, and dispose where appropriate.

He said that, while the portfolio represented substantial liabilities, there were also exciting commercial opportunities.

The new asset strategy would identify opportunities to increase income, reduce costs, dispose of poor-performing assets and invest in those with growth potential.