Land sales could net £1.5m for local authority

Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council is hoping for an early Christmas present, as it takes eight properties to auction in December.

The former Oscott Manor School in Old Oscott is expected to fetch the largest sum when it goes under the hammer on 10 December, with a £750,000 reserve slapped on the 1.6-acre site.

Buildings on the former special needs facility were demolished in September 2024, following the school’s departure for a purpose-built facility in 2021.

The auction comes just shy of a year since the council’s cabinet voted to approve the sell-off, as part of a package of 13 properties which were expected to fetch between £6m and £9m to boost city coffers, despite a local campaign to retain the plot for educational use.

The site is around 5 miles north of Birmingham city centre in the suburb of Old Oscott, and seems to be most suitable for redevelopment as residential – with auctioneers at Bond Wolfe advertising the land as suitable for a variety of uses, subject to planning permission.

Also listed for sale at auction is the former community day nursery at Haughton Road in Handsworth, expected to fetch at least £275,000, and the former Beeches Goldd day centre, which is up with a reserve set at £180,000.

The authority has sold off more than £56m worth of assets since 2024, including the Bordesley Green Wheels site which sold for over £30m, and is now is set to be redeveloped as a £2bn sports quarter for the city.

Europe’s largest local authority effectively declared itself bankrupt in 2023 following a double-whammy projected overspend figure of around £87m for the 2023/24 financial year, coupled with an equal pay claim estimated to hit as much as £760m.

The auction will take place online with Bond Wolfe, on Wednesday 10 December at 8.30am.