Council-owned lodges at cemeteries, parks and schools to be sold at auction

Sefton Council is selling off the historic but rundown buildings

Hello and welcome to the 94th edition of The Southport Lead.

How would you fancy living at the entrance to a cemetery? Well, if you’re that way include that option will soon become reality as Sefton Council prepares to auction a number of its unused properties.

Lodges at parks and schools are also on the list in a plan the local authority hopes will raise money, cut costs, and preserve the buildings’ futures.

In December, we are offering 20% off the price of a subscription if you make it as a gift to somebody else. You can read about our special Christmas offer here.

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Southport briefing

❌ Sefton Council is set to write-off almost £1m in debts it can never get back, of which more than 84% of that amount is from the last five years. The overall figure of £940,000 relates to the council’s assessment of ‘unrecoverable’ debts over £10,000 and includes missed payments for business rates, council tax, sundry debts. Debt write-offs above £10,000 can only be done with cabinet approval and reasons why a debt is put forward as unrecoverable include bankruptcy, ‘gone no trace’ and ‘deceased no trace’. However, the largest figure of write-offs relates to the accounting line ‘Unable to Collect – Recovery Exhausted’. A report proposing the write-offs explains: “All debts, taxes and rates are actively pursued and, in most instances, are collected with little difficulty. As a result, debts are monitored to ensure they are collected in the most efficient and economical manner and are only considered for write off where all means of recovery have been exhausted.”

🧑‍⚕️ A 14-year-old girl who was stabbed three times in the Southport attack has met the surgeons who saved her life. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was taken to Aintree Hospital last year after being stabbed in the arm and the back and suffered a punctured lung. Alongside her sister, who was also attacked, she’s been making and selling merchandise to help pay for the first aid kit and training needed to educate young people about the dangers of knife crime and how to treat knife wounds. Read more here.

🍽️ Two Southport restaurants have been named among the country’s best in the newly released Harden’s Best UK Restaurants 2026. Kalash Divine Indian, on Lord Street, and Bistrot Vérité, in Birkdale Village, are among the entries in a guide based on the feedback of guide are based on 30,000 reports from a survey of 2,500 diners. Nearby Moor Hall, in Aughton, was named as the number one restaurant in the country.

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What next for historic buildings after council plots sales?

The rundown lodges at Dukes Street Cemetery are among those to be sold. Pic: LDRS

By Jamie Lopez

Unused and historic buildings attached to cemeteries, schools and a park are to be sold off by Sefton Council.

The local authority is planning to auction off properties including lodges at Duke Street Cemetery and Botanic Gardens in order to both boost its future budgets and bring new life to the buildings.

A further saving will come as Sefton is paying council tax to itself on the basis that they are classified as residential properties as well as ongoing maintenance costs.