Southampton City Council aims to raise £15m a year by selling assets, such as buildings, across the city that will allow for more investment, such as on the “creaking road system”.

The council launched its asset development and disposal programme in March, which aims to generate £85m through sales over the next three to five years.

Recently, the council completed the sale of One Guildhall Square to the University of Southampton for £12.75m.

The Labour administration previously said that it is looking to retain, develop, or regenerate much of the council’s portfolio while selling buildings and sites it does not really need anymore.

Money from sales will be used to plug the £39.3 million gap in the 2024/25 budget following in-principle approval from the government to use capital income to cover revenue costs.

Mel Creighton, executive director of enabling services at the city council, said at a meeting on Thursday that it is currently reviewing the whole portfolio to determine what they need to retain, which are in the position from a development perspective, and which they can get rid of.

Mrs Creighton said: “Hopefully, disposing of those assets will generate a capital receipt from the sale.

“Those capital receipts can then be used to fund capital expenditure and by getting exceptional financial support and where revenue gap can be put through as capital expenditure and those capital receipts then can be used to fund the gap that we’ve got the £39m that we have in-year.”

She also said the annual target for those incomes would be around £15m yearly over the course of the programme.

Mrs Creighton said: “The target that came forward as part of the asset disposal and development program report that came back in was £15 million a year to dispose of. That’s the target.

“Every year, we’ll look at what’s the right thing to do with the next trench of assets; it might be more, it might be less as we go through each year depending on the prices we get from the sale. That’s roughly the target.”

However, Councillor Simon Letts, cabinet member for finance, said the council will use the funds to first fill the 2024-25 financial gap, and then to pay back loans and rebuild the capital program.

He said community projects, including the "creaking road system" would be a start.