THE biggest 'bonfire' of council buildings Worcestershire has ever seen is being extended - in a move to bring £10 million into the coffers.

Worcestershire County Council is launching a new four-year plan to make better use of its property by selling, merging or renting out more of it.

The move comes as new figures were released showing how much progress was made under the the old 'Better Use of Property' strategy since 2011.

Your Worcester News can reveal:

- A staggering 99 properties have been sold, ranging from large-scale office blocks to old community halls, day centres, libraries, commercial units, workshops, school sites and more

- 33 council leases have been ditched and 17 main administrative buildings been reduced to just four

- Around £5 million has been saved in maintenance costs and £29 million has been raked in from the sales

- Energy consumption is down 22% and £2.5 million has been saved from the yearly revenue budget

The last five years has seen a huge shrinking of the council's entire estate, with the vast majority of the workforce now based at County Hall and the rest spread between the other three main offices in Stourport, Parkside in Bromsgrove and Wildwood, Spetchley.

The new plan covers the period up to 2020 and aims for an additional £10 million in capital receipts from further sales.

Bosses will also seek to rent out more space, with a report on it revealing how outside tenants at County Hall are bringing £1 million into the coffers, including the recent arrivals of HMRC and DEFRA.

The updated strategy ties in with the new 'Place Partnership', a project overseen to tie public sector property together across four counties and seek mergers and sales where possible.

It includes three councils, two police forces and the fire service, and as we revealed last year is being overseen by barrister Andrew Pollard, who was recruited on a salary topping £100,000 to run the partnership.

During a cabinet meeting today members of the Conservative leadership backed it, and insisted they would not sell off "the family silver".

Councillor Marc Bayliss, cabinet member for transformation and commissioning, said: "We're a large organisation with a significant property portfolio and it's right we look to maximise the value of it and release resources for the front line where we can."

He called the Place Partnership "unique" nationally, saying "it shows we're at the forefront of public sector reform".

Labour group leader Councillor Peter McDonald said: "The Labour group has been concerned since day one about asset stripping, the fact you've sold 99 sites against a target of 55 shows you're doing just that."

He also called the Parkside site in Bromsgrove "a modern day slum" and claimed the listed building should be pulled down.

Councillor Bayliss labelled it "nonsense", and told the cabinet if he'd suggested any listed sites should be demolished "it'd be on the front page".

The drive to save cash comes alongside the need to save around £25 million a year, largely due to demographic pressures and reduced Government funding.

Within Whitehall Worcestershire's efforts to save cash by sharing, merging or selling property is viewed as the best and most progressive example in the UK - and one which other councils are now being pushed to follow.

The new 35-page strategy also includes a section on the potential for using spare land to develop new rented housing, and early details on possible regeneration opportunities in the Wyre Forest and Redditch under 'one public estate' proposals to merge public services together rather than have them spread out.

* See the updated 'Property Asset Strategy' for yourself HERE.