It makes good economic sense for Bradford Council to be selling off parcels of unwanted land and buildings that are no longer needed by the authority.

The plan is to make £65 million over ten years, and in the last three years they have managed to make more than £10 million from sales.

The Council has already said that the money will be used to “improve service delivery and generate revenue savings” through more efficient and cost-effective Council buildings.

Although making money in straitened times is to be lauded, the authority must make sure the cash isn’t perceived to have disappeared into a black hole.

Improving the efficiency of remaining Council building stock should have a long-term positive effect on the authority’s finances.

It would, however, be nice to think that the revenue generated by these auctions would be put into something concrete for the district, perhaps something for the people to enjoy or benefit from.

No-one can really argue with the Council ploughing the money back into making further cost-savings, though, however much we might like to see some new facilities for the district.

Let us hope that we’re kept well up to date with the cost-savings generated from this scheme, and reap the benefits in terms of less swingeing cuts to services in the future.