Slough County Court to be sold off by council

Slough council has voted to sell off Slough County Court in Chalvey Park – but it will continue to operate as a court for the foreseeable future, it says.

The county court deliberates on family and civil cases in Slough. It brings in an income of £107,750 a year to the council.

It was transferred to Slough council from Buckinghamshire County Council. Slough did not purchase the site, and there is no recorded value for the transfer.

Slough council owns the freehold for it, ie, the power to lease it out – but income from leasing has not been yielding a significant return, the cabinet heard.

The council has an asset disposals strategy to reduce the council’s future financial commitments, reduce its borrowing, reduce its debt servicing costs and help balance its budget.

This process ‘is of significant importance to the council’s financial recovery.’

It involves selling off ‘non-essential’ council assets ie, those not required for the delivery of council services.

In October 2022, it was agreed the county court is ‘surplus’, meaning that it can be sold off, if the council decided this is best.

At a cabinet meeting on Monday night, councillors deliberated whether to sell or retain it.

Officers did not recommend keeping it, since the costs outweigh the income generated.

Another option was to defer the sale, in the hope that market conditions will improve.

But market forecasts suggest that this is ‘unlikely’ and officers did not recommended this either.

Instead, they recommended selling the freehold via an auction.

This should allow the council to receive a capital receipt by December. Then it can reduce its borrowing.

The tenant at the site is the Ministry of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which has recently renewed its existing lease for a five-year term.

At the cabinet meeting, Pat Hayes, executive director of regeneration, housing & environment at Slough council, stressed that the sale of the freehold ‘doesn’t affect the ongoing operation of the court’ and it will continue operating ‘for the foreseeable future.’

The Government will decide whether it wants to renew that lease when it expires, just as it would if Slough council remained the freeholder.

“[Slough County Court] will be sold as an investment asset essentially, for someone to buy that freehold interest,” said Mr Hayes.

Because the lease renewal happened recently, it will be the Government after this one that will eventually decide what will happen next with the court services, he added.

Councillor Gurcharan Manku (Con, Langley St Mary’s) said he supported the disposal of the court if it was necessary, though expressed his regret.

“I’m against selling any of the family silver, but we have to sell the family silver because of the financial circumstances we are in,” he said.

Cllr Puja Bedi (Con, Colnbrook & Poyle) added: “Nobody wants to sell the family silver.

“We’ve had no choice, due to what we’ve inherited financially from the previous Labour administration.

“We’re doing what we need to do now to look after our residents and our services.”