Government property chief says ‘no’ to mass disposals

A chief adviser to the government has ruled out a wholesale disposal of state-owned property despite the national drive to push down the public deficit.

John McCready, who heads up the property unit at the Shareholder Executive, told the Public Property Summit in London: “We are not very keen on sales at the moment…Why? Simply because the market outside London is not strong enough. We have an obligation to return reasonable prices to the taxpayer”.

The government’s portfolio is valued at £370bn and only last year, Lord Carter deemed that £20bn could be raised in the next decade from property sales after he conducted a widespread review.

McCready said some non-core assets would be disposed of but he would focus more on the reduction of overall operating costs. The discussed properties cost an estimated £25bn a year to run.