Public Land and Building Assets

Land and building assets as defined in the Code include:

• all service and office properties occupied or controlled by local authorities, both freehold and leasehold, in this case Colchester Borough Council
• any properties occupied or run under Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts
• all other properties local authorities own or use, for example, hostels, laboratories, investment properties and depots
• garages unless rented as part of a housing tenancy agreement
• surplus, sublet or vacant properties owned by local authorities
• undeveloped land
• serviced or temporary offices where contractual or actual occupation exceeds 3 months
• all future authority commitments, for example under an agreement for lease, from when a contractual commitment is made

Properties must also be included even if they are part of a larger estate (for instance, a school caretakers property on the site of a school, or a residential property on the site of a farm).

Any land or building where the council has currently a property interest should be included. This could include, for example, playing fields or buildings of church run schools.

There are some exclusions as stated in the code:

• social housing
• rent-free properties provided by traders (such as information booths in public places or posts)
• operational railways and canals
• operational public highways (but any adjoining land not subject to public rights should be included)
• assets of national security
• information deemed inappropriate for public access as a result of data protection and/or disclosure controls (eg refuse houses)