On the face of it, the portfolio of properties owned by Bradford Council might pose some difficult questions for the authority at a time of austerity.

A survey by the TaxPayers Alliance has revealed that the assets owned by the Council includes no less than seven golf courses, as well as a hotel and a car showroom along with more conventional items like theatres and an industrial estate.

It also owns the seventh highest number of car parks among local authorities, with a total of 140.

The pressure group believes councils should not increase Council Tax, as Bradford did by 1.6 per cent earlier this year, while sitting on a large number of high value assets.

But while their call for a closer discussion on the general issue of asset ownership is welcome, it would be unwise to be too hasty in reacting to this.

As the Council’s deputy leader, Val Slater, says, there is a balance between selling off the family silver and keeping hold of some assets that bring in income.

It may be an obvious point, but once these assets are gone, they are gone for good, and represent only a short-term one off injection of funds, whereas they may provide a steady flow of income for many years to come if retained.

The Council has already sold off a significant amount of its assets, and it should look closely at the pros and cons of keeping or selling them off.

What we don’t want to see is a knee-jerk reaction that results in a fire sale of all the Council’s property, which might bring in a huge one-off windfall, but at a cost to long-term benefits.