Bradford Council has sold more than £10.5 million of unwanted land and buildings in the last three years.

The local authority intends to raise a total of £65 million in ten years by selling off assets it no longer intends to develop.

In the latest sale held this month, vacant plots and properties with a combined asking price of more than £900,000 went under the hammer at an auction at Elland Road football stadium in Leeds.

The two most expensive lots were unsold. The sites remain for sale via Pugh’s auctioneers for a limited time.

One is land earmarked for housing in Eaglesfield Drive, Woodside, Bradford, for sale at £180,000. The other, vacant land with outline residential planning consent at Upper Castle Street, West Bowling, is available at £145,000.

One site which fetched £6,000 was a grassy spot populated by trees and containing a bench and footpath in High Street, Steeton.

Steeton resident and Bradford University professor Charles Husband said the land had been used by children for play and by families to picnic for at least two decades.

He accused the Council of selling the land without proper public consultation and establishing the site’s history of recreational use.

Before the auction, Belinda Gaynor, the Council’s principal asset manager, said: “There were no objections to the proposal and, as the Council has a duty to dispose of assets that it no longer requires, we are offering up the site for sale.

“Advice from the planning service indicates that this land is in a Conservation Area and that any change of use is unlikely to receive support. As part of the Council’s ‘b-works’ programme, we are reviewing assets with a view to identifying land and property that is no longer required and which can be offered for sale.

“At present we have 11 sites going to auction in December and have a target of £65m capital receipts for the ten-year period ending 2018/19.

“The money generated will be used to improve service delivery and generate revenue savings through the provision of improved, more cost-effective and efficient council buildings.”

Coun David Green, the Council’s executive member for regeneration and economy, said: “Bradford Council has an extensive portfolio of property in the district which has been accumulated historically.

“Very careful consideration has to be given to any proposals that sites or buildings should no longer be retained, including looking at the energy efficiency of buildings and making more efficient use of them.

“Any proposals are subject to consultation and the budget process, so it is not possible to predict any figures.”