The move to sell eight plots of land is part of wider existing efforts to jettison property and land the county council no longer needs.

Devon County Council’s land and property committee agreed to sell the various plots of land, in locations including Barnstaple, Umberleigh, and near South Molton on the North Devon Link Road, and opted to extend a lease for property in Exeter’s Marsh Green Road used by the Devon Disability Collective.

The council predicts the sales could lead to it securing anywhere between £3 million and £5 million, plus it would save around £10,000 per year that it currently spends maintaining those plots.

One of the sites being sold is land that was initially intended as an extension to the park and ride on land south of Parks School in Barnstaple, but is “no longer required”, according to the council.

Another site chalked up for sale was land at Sowden Lane in Barnstaple. This was originally acquired by the county council as a potential area for light industry.

“The area has never been brought forward for that purpose and the focus was placed on development of Roundswell instead,” the committee was told.

“In discussion with North Devon District Council, the site has potential for housing development and subject to approval to dispose of the land it would be intended to enter into a pre-application enquiry to explore the potential development of the site.”

The committee also received updates on 29 other sites that were either in the process of being sold, had been sold, or were being repurposed for other uses.

Back in 2023, Councillor Julian Brazil, who was then the leader of the opposition, called a bid by the Conservatives to sell up to £10 million in buildings and land a “fire sale”.

But the policy appears to be continuing under Cllr Brazil, who is now the leader of the council following May’s local elections.

This may be because all local councils are feeling financial strain, with Devon County Council specifically losing a £10 million rural services support grant in December last year.