BASSETSBURY Barn in High Wycombe is to be sold because the owners, Wycombe District Council, cannot find a community use for it.

In 1996 councillors backed the Bassetsbury Group, a group of local artists who wanted to lease the barn and convert it to an arts and craft centre. The council would have given £10,000 towards the project but plans for a Lottery bid came to nothing.

At a meeting of the council's community and leisure committee on Monday, members were told that options now included leasing it, selling it, renting it for storage space or just leaving it vacant.

Officers recommended selling and members backed this.

The value of the barn is about £83,500 and of the outhouses £20,000, though if the buildings were sold for homes they would fetch a lot more

Cllr Alex Collingwood said it would fetch £200,000 to £250,000 on the open market and Cllr Paul Rogerson said £83,000 was a snip for residential use. Paul Marston-Weston, the head of leisure services said colleagues in the planning department were not in favour of selling it for residential use.

The barn, a Grade II listed building next to Bassetsbury Manor in Bassetsbury Lane, is in a conservation area. The council spent almost £100,000 doing it up over seven years and it would cost about £8,000 a year just to maintain it.

The cost of putting in essential services, such as gas, water and electricity would be enormous members were told.

Cllr John Dalton said he wasn't happy about the council selling its assets and suggested using it for storage space.

Mr Marston-Weston said councillors were now obliged to have an asset management plan which spelled out why they needed to hang on to surplus properties.