Garages and commercial properties could be sold off by Bracknell Forest Council as part of plans to raise money and boost council budgets.

The council is looking into which of its properties it might sell to fund a cost-saving “transformation” in how it operates. But Stuart McKellar, the council’s director of resources, said this wouldn’t involve “operational properties” – though he added the council hadn’t yet decided which assets it will sell.

Mr McKellar said: “There is not yet a detailed schedule of what those assets will be but we will not be selling operational properties.

“We will be looking at commercial properties, garages, the miscellaneous things which we own largely as a result of having a New Town inheritance because we own things that many councils don’t.”

READ MORE: Bracknell Forest Council property sales-funded spending plans revealed

Under freedom of information laws, Bracknell News has asked Bracknell Forest Council for a list of assets and properties it owns – although the council had not responded more than a week after the legal deadline.

However, according to the council’s website, it owns industrial units on Liscombe in Birch Hill, on the Longshot Lane Industrial Estate, and on Market Street, as well as office units in Forest Park.

The council also owns neighbourhood shops on Bullbrook Row, Crown Row, Great Hollands Square, Liscombe, Priestwood Square, Rectory Row, Harmans Water, Warren Row, Wildridings Square and Yeovil Road.

It is not clear what other properties – if any – that the council owns as it has not responded to the freedom of information request.

Officers say the money earned from selling properties will fund a “business transformation” aimed at making the council more efficient.

READ MORE: Bracknell Forest Council could sell properties to cope with budget

Under the plans, money from asset sales could go towards measures such as increasing the number of permanent employees rather than relying on agency staff, and improving special educational needs services.

The plans will involve spending some £4 million between April 2023 and April 2027. But officers predict this will help the council save £9.5 million over the same period.

Mr McKellar said this would stop the council from having to dip too much into its reserves – pots of money saved for covering extra spending – as it strives to make sure its budgets can cope with rising costs.

He said the asset sales plan “allows us to fund the one-off costs of transitioning to a new way of working, delivering financial savings to help support our financial position and fund that through the sale of council assets.”