Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many buildings owned by his Department have been sold in each year since 2010.

The Department’s estate largely consists of leasehold properties. Since 2010 the Department has surrendered the following leasehold facilities, reducing the annual cost of the civil estate by around £38.5 million:

The move of my Department's main building from Eland House to Marsham Street, to share with the Home Office, will reduce our Department's running costs by £9 million a year from 2015-16, and save taxpayers a total of £220 million over the lifetime of the building's lease commitments.

The table below indicates the number of buildings sold in each calendar year:

The Department did hold one freehold land asset, the Fire Service College which has now been sold. In March 2013, the sale of the 365 acre Fire Service College estate, comprising 34 buildings, other non-habitable structures and land was sold for £10 million. The land was covered by an overage clause meaning the Department will share in any profits from future development of the College site. In addition this has generated savings of £3.9 million in running costs per year.

Following the College sale the Department is currently disposing of 33 houses in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, which were formerly part of the Fire Service College but were not sold with the main Fire Service College estate. So far this year 23 of these houses have been sold generating a receipt of £5,163,100, and a further 2 houses are under offer. The market value of the properties upon which sales have been agreed range from £215,000 to £250,000 and the total expected income from the sale of the 33 houses and linked development land is around £7,500,000.

The Department holds 10 remaining residential houses at the site, which will be sold during 2015/2016.