KCC’s Freehold Properties & Our Concerns

Five postcode prefixes cover the whole of Kent. They are BR, CT, DA, ME and TN. Across these postcodes Kent County Council (KCC) had £41,234,935.92 worth of properties which were categorised as “surplus”, or were subject to potential disposal as at 31/03/2016. KCC have £55,406,192.95, which are categorised as “Investment” Properties, or land held for investment purposes.

In all KCC own 1388 freehold pieces of property or land across all postcodes. and the valuation of the property or land (where known; which is 617) amounts to just over £1.2 billion pounds. The valuations provided are “book value” and for accounting or insurance purposes only, and are the audited value as at 31 March 2016, as KCC’s most recently audited set of valuations as the 2017 accounts are not yet available.  The valuations will not, for the most part, reflect current commercial market value. Each year Kent County Council values approximately one third of its estate on a cyclical basis, therefore data herein may date back to 2013/2014 financial year.

To make it easier, than just using numbers, below is a screen shot of a map KCC produce; which gives one a better idea of the numbers and where the properties are located.

A lot of these properties are schools, libraries children centres, and the Hardelot Centre; which is used to “inspire. educate. immerse”  school children/teenagers in another country/language. It is “based 50 minutes from Calais and is set in 8 acres of woodland with plenty of on-site facilities. The beach is 2 kilometers away with local visitor attractions nearby.”

KCC also own Kent Mountain Centre -Glyn Padarn in Llanberis (near Mount Snowdon Wales), again this is to help children and young people “grow through adventure”. Some of the Shepwayvox Team, while at schools across Kent, visited the centre and had a great time and have fond memories of this place. Perhaps you do too.

KCC have valued 617 freehold pieces of property/land the value is – as we said – just over £1.2 billion.

This is what our council tax pays for, schools, libraries, children centres, adventure centres for Kent children to flourish and grow among other things. All worthwhile things to pay for we believe.

We do though have grave concerns, as the cuts already suffered will bite even harder in the coming years ahead. We fear that more properties/land will need to be sold off to maintain  front-line services; which are so necessary to all our communities across Kent. We hope and pray that when we come back to this subject in a years time, these properties and land owned by KCC will not be diminished, because if they are our communities here will be much the poorer.

The Shepwayvox Team.

All this information was gained from an EIR request by our public face – in MS Excel format – which can be be download here:

KCC Landholdings with acquisition dates and valuation