MORE than 125 shops, 15 farms, six pubs and two golf courses are among properties owned by Oxfordshire’s councils, new figures show.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance said the assets – revealed by a Freedom of Information request – should be sold to bolster the public purse and prevent further increases in council tax.
Oxford City Council was found to own a golf course, 23 car parks, five swimming pools or leisure centres, two farms, a theatre, a cinema, two hotels, 11 pubs, 19 restaurants, two shopping centres, 140 shops, 34 offices and 23 industrial properties.
This year, the authority voted through proposals to increase its council tax precept for band D homes by 1.99 per cent, bringing the total figure to £278.97 a year.
But Ed Turner, city council deputy leader, said calls to sell the authority’s property assets were “bizarre” because they brought in more than £10m each year.
He said: “Some of the properties in question, like leisure centres or car parks, are valuable assets to the community and the idea we shouldn’t be able to own and run them is just bizarre.”
TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive Jonathan Isaby said: “It looks deeply hypocritical for councils to plead poverty as an excuse for hiking council tax when they’ve got such a huge asset portfolio.
“They should be focussed on services.”
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