‘Irresponsible’ land sales cost public. Millions lost as councils sell land despite the ‘credit crunch’.

Published, 24.08.2008

TAXPAYERS ARE losing out on millions of pounds because public bodies are carrying out “irresponsible” land sales while prices tumble during the recession.

Last week, John Swinney, the finance secretary, said he was putting an extra £50 million into the NHS budget so health boards didn’t have to rely on sales to pay for new buildings. “It would be irresponsible to dispose of public land in this particular climate,” he said, “Quite clearly, the market for disposal of land just now – it would be irresponsible to dispose of public land in this particular climate. Obviously we still retain the assets of land and infrastructure that we can utilise at a later stage when the market improves and we can secure proper value for the disposal.”

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