“For sale” signs could be going up on an increasing number of Dorset Council owned properties and land.

Council leader Cllr Spencer Flower says the authority needs to dispose, or find new uses, for much of what it owns.

He has long complained, and lobbied, Westminster about how poorly Dorset is treated when it comes to local government finance.

“We really do need to up our game – we’ve got a big estate and a lot of that estate we need to dispose of or re-purpose for a whole host of reasons. We need to move on, at pace, now. We need to drive that forward,” he told the council’s annual meeting.

Although he paid tribute to Weymouth councillor Tony Ferrari for his 12-months in charge of council assets he has moved him aside in a Cabinet reshuffle in favour of former education and children’s brief holder, Cllr Andrew Parry, with Cllr Simon Gibson stepping in to take charge of the ‘levelling up’ role – effectively splitting the previous job in two.

Cllr Byron Quayle has moved to Cllr Parry’s former role as part of the reshuffle.

With the notable exception of leasing the former council HQ in Dorchester to the NHS, and selling the former North Dorset site for housing, there has been little change in the council’s overall asset portfolio, although some small parcels of land and village car parks have been transferred to town and parish councils.

The former East Dorset District Council headquarters at Furzehill, Wimborne remains on the market, with questions still being asked about the long-term future of the former Purbeck District Council offices at Westport House in Wareham and other buildings it owns in the town.

Even County Hall is considered by some to be under-used with many staff having only returned to the office part-time following Covid.

The last published assets list included around 1,400 items in 36 different classifications distributed across 22 locations throughout the county.

A total of 322 of these are in Weymouth, 169 in Dorchester, 133 in Bridport and 118 in Wimborne with an estimated capital value of around £460 million.

The council owns a total of 608 sites which have buildings on them for which it is responsible (excluding schools).

The property portfolio includes commercial assets (355) from which it earns income from third parties, and operational assets for the provision of services which consists of 1,054 items.

More than 200 of these are administrative offices, leisure buildings, libraries, community centres, youth centres, adult learning centres, family centres, day centres, residential homes and public conveniences.

Another 200 are supporting specialist council services such as housing, depots, cemeteries and crematoria, archives and outdoor education centres.

The council is said to have 400 land-based assets that play an important role in supporting the economic health of Dorset’s market and coastal towns serving shoppers, visitors and tourists, and directly supporting employment with a particular focus on agriculture. These include 133 car parks, harbours, recreational facilities, 48 county farms, 118 industrial units, 61 hotels and 34 retail and commercial units.

Other assets including 116 land parcels, 4 Gypsy and Traveller sites, 25 infrastructure assets and 32 garages.