A SELL-OFF of homes, land and businesses across Shropshire has raked in more than £2 million for council coffers.

Shropshire Council was selling off some of its assets as part of drive to plug a £76 million funding black hole. The sale had been expected to raise £1.275 million, but interest in the 20 different lots exceeded expectations.

Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said today: “It went extremely well.

“We got almost double what we were budgeting to get. Most of the lots were sold to Shropshire people so that was good.”

Richard Argles, a director at auctioneers Lambert Smith Hampton, said yesterday’s auction in London had been a great success for the council, with most of the sites going to investors.

The council assets sold for a total of £2.344 million with just two of the lots – group of six sub-stations in Oswestry – failing to sell.

Mr Argles said: “We were going for between £1 million and £1.5 million and got £2.1 million for the Shropshire lots.

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“Shropshire should be pleased – it shows that these lots must go to a national sale. We had people in the room from all over the place.

“Most of them went to private and property company investors.”

The lot that raised the most money was a set of 34 vacant apartments in Brookfield Close, Weston Rhyn, near Oswestry.

The flats, which are in need of refurbishment, had been given a guide price of £250,000, but went to a top bid of £565,000.

Among the best performing lots was the Autotyres company in Nettles Lane, Shrewsbury. Expected to sell for £130,000, the land currently used by a tyre company fetched a winning bid of £302,000.

Other assets to raise high sums for the council was a builders’ yard in Much Wenlock that is currently let to Travis Perkins, which sold for £303,000.

The BT Telephone Exchange in New Road, Much Wenlock, sold for £152,000.

Meanwhile, the 16th century Ironcraft shop in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, went for £120,000.

The Presthorpe Caravan Park at Much Wenlock, which is currently rented to The Caravan Club, was another council-owned asset to go under the hammer. It had been expected to sell for £75,000, but ended bringing in £160,000.

By Chris Burn