BOLTON Council made close to £8 million in the past financial year from sales of its land and assets.

The authority netted £7,816,133 between April, 2015 and March, 2016 from selling plots of land to developers.

The figures, which have been revealed after The Bolton News submitted a Freedom of Information request, show that it was a bumper year for the council in land sales.

The same request for the financial year 2014-15 shows land and asset sales of just £2,084,361 — meaning the authority enjoyed a rise of 73 per cent in this area last year.

The biggest single asset sale last year was the Smithills Estate — which the council sold to the Woodland Trust in July.

Another major sale involved land in Commission Street, in the town centre.

Once home to a housing estate, the buildings have been demolished and the £2.5 million plot was sold to the University of Bolton in December, 2015, with plans to create a flagship new £10 million national motorsport centre on the site.

Many of the council’s land sales have been carried out through its public sector partnership with investment firm PSP.

The council uses this arrangement — known as PSP Bolton LLP — to maximise its return on land and property assets and generate new income for the authority.

One area where PSP has secured a sizeable cash return for the council is on the site of the former Longsight School in Harwood.

According to the FOI response, the council secured a £679,800 cash boost from the sale of the land in March this year, with a developer aiming to build 56 new houses on the plot.

The council admits that it is under pressure to fulfil government housing allocations and many of the land sales have been done with a view to creating housing developments on brownfield sites.

This includes the former Chorley Street Car Park, which the authority was paid £100,000 for in August last year ahead of plans for more than 100 apartments and 17 houses being submitted by developer Bolton Site Ltd.

Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said that making money from asset sales is something the authority has to do in the face of government cuts.

He said: “It is important for the council to generate its own money and this will all be reinvested within the authority.

“It costs £3 million per year to run our Corporate Property Unit, which looks after our listed buildings as well as important jobs like checking schools for asbestos and Legionnaires’ disease.”

He said that selling brownfield sites for housing is important, adding: “Not only does this generate money for the council, it helps us to protect greenbelt sites in the face of government pressure to build houses.”

“When you look at the Smithills Estate, not only have we sold that, but it also means we don’t have any liabilities for the area going forward and The Woodland Trust is the best organisation to manage that site.”

He added: “Extending the university is also an important priority for us.”

But opposition parties have accused the council of continuing to plead poverty and consider closing services like children’s centres, while adding millions to its coffers.

Tory Cllr Andy Morgan said: “The stock response from the council is that this money can only be spent on capital projects and not the day-to-day running funds, which are used on things like the children’s centres.

“But there are ways to manipulate the accounts which mean money could be used for those revenue costs, if the will was there — it is definitely a political decision.”

Cllr Morgan did accept that such asset sales made sense, he added: “If the council is sitting on millions of pounds worth of assets, it makes sense to sell them.”

UKIP leader Cllr Sean Hornby added: “They are closing children’s centres and allowing roads in the borough to be left in a terrible state, yet we see them making millions more.

“This money should be going on things like road resurfacing and not just in Labour wards.”