Bricked-up Wisbech room and old toilets boost council coffers

The sale of an inaccessible bricked-up room and other properties has helped a council raise £216,751.

The room, wedged between two properties and suspended over an alleyway in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, sold for just £1.

But it was one of six assets Fenland District Council put up for auction, including former public toilets and several plots of land.

The proud new owner of the £1 "bargain" is not known.

The auctioneers admitted they had not been able to get inside to see what they were actually selling, but a photograph in the legal pack showed it to be empty except for some broken planks and a lot of dust.

Whoever bought it will need a ladder to access it, as it is at first-floor level and bricked up from both sides.

The former toilets in Chatteris sold for £17,000, and plots of land, some with outline planning permission for development, made up the rest of the total.

A spokesman for Fenland District Council said the money raised through the auctions would "generate additional capital to support our aspirations for Fenland and mitigate our budget constraints while providing opportunities for development".

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