Bexley Council will consider offloading eight properties highlighted as under-used or expensive to maintain.

Bexley’s cabinet will meet on January 27 to discuss the move, as well as taking the next step in setting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The potential sell-off of the properties, ranging from homes, tennis courts and disused lodges, comes after the council conducted a review of its own assets.

In a statement, Cllr David Leaf, Bexley’s cabinet member for resources, said: “We need land and property to deliver the services people rely on, but running and maintaining them takes resources, which can sometimes be better used”.

“As services change and transform to better meet the needs of the people who use services, we need to make sure our buildings and assets support frontline service delivery.

“If there is land or property that we no longer need, it makes sense to put them to better use. We can use the income this generates to help fund services on which local people rely.”

The eight identified sites include:

  • 42 Sherbrooke Road, Bexleyheath
  • Depot rear of 47 Stephen Road, Bexleyheath
  • Former toilet and car park, Sidcup Place
  • Last east of Normandy Primary School
  • West Lodge, Russell Close, Bexleyheath
  • 27 Station Road, Sidcup
  • Old Manor Way tennis courts
  • Land at Bridge Road, Slade Green – the former Slade Green Community Centre, pop-in parlour and two residential properties

If the cabinet approves their disposal or reuse, further work will be carried out into the future of each of the sites. Any plans for development on any of the sites would be subject to planning approval.

It’s one of the key items the authority will consider at their Monday meeting of cabinet.

Next year’s budget will also form a significant component of the night’s meeting.

The authority’s budget faces a predicted £2.7m funding gap in 2020/21, increasing to £31.884m by 2023/24.

Ballooning social care costs for adult and children, as well as aged care home placements, were among the reasons given for the blow-out, which comes as authorities across the United Kingdom grapple with similar problems.

The council has floated a range of initiatives to drive down operating costs, including investing £4m into digital technology to improve its online service to customers.

Among the new investments the cabinet will also consider are an extra £3.9m for road and footpath maintenance, the refurbishment of the footbridge at Belvedere Station and a contribution to the cost of further renovation to the old Erith Library building.

However, when it was first presented to councillors at November full council meeting, members were informed that some cost-cutting measures also included reducing carers from one to two for service users, as well as potential job cuts at the authority.

Once voted on, the report will head to a joint budget overview and scrutiny meeting on February 11.

Councillors will also be updated on plans to create a Regional Adoption Agency with Kent County Council and Medway Council.

All local authorities have been ordered  by central Government to join a regional adoption agency by the end of 2020.

The meeting will be streamed on council’s website from 7.30pm.