Loctock Hall library on market for £425,000 plus

The council has placed the property, which is described as having “development potential”, with agent Pugh & Co, which is also handling the hoped-for sale by private treaty of nine other council properties, plus three other lots at auction.

The library and children’s centre, which closed last year in a round of wide ranging county council cuts, is described as being on a 0.39 acre site, with the library itself offering 5,705 sq ft.

The 50-year-old library is on a prime site off Watkin Lane. With parking spaces at the front and a garden to the rear Pugh suggest the site has the potential to become a day nursery or doctors’ surgery. Alternatively it could be considered for retail or office use, subject to planning approval.

Any sale will be subject to the council’s standard clawback provision entitling it to 50 per cent of any increase in property value due to site redevelopment within 20 years.