Council owned land and buildings

Click on the map below to view all land and buildings that we own. We update this daily. 

Map of Council owned land

See a map of Council owned land.

If you have any queries on our land ownership, Contact Land Ownership. For details of land that we do not own, contact the Durham District Land Registry.

Council land and buildings for sale and to let

To see a list of Council land and buildings for sale and to let, visit Council land and buildings for sale or to let.

List of property we own

A comprehensive list of land and building assets we own, taken from our asset register on 30 July 2024. It provides a snap-shot of our property portfolio on that date for the financial year 2023/24: Durham County Council Land and Building Assets 2023-24 (CSV, 849 KB)

The document shows a number of columns of data which are explained in the table below:

What the list includes

The list includes:

• all service and office properties occupied or controlled by councils, both freehold and leasehold
• any properties occupied or run under Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts
• all other properties councils own or use, eg hostels, laboratories, investment properties and depots
• garages unless rented as part of a housing tenancy agreement
• surplus, sublet or vacant properties owned by local authorities
• undeveloped land
• serviced or temporary offices where contractual or actual occupation exceeds 3 months
• all future council commitments, eg under an agreement for lease, from when a contractual commitment is made

What the list does not include

We've removed some building records from the data list because they are exempt from publication under the Freedom of Information Act such as properties that are used to house individuals. These items are:

• social housing
• rent free properties provided by traders (such as information booths in public places or ports)
• operational railways and canals
• operational public highways (but any adjoining land not subject to public rights are included)
• assets of national security
• information deemed inappropriate for public access as a result of data protection and/or disclosure controls (eg refuge houses)

What the information means

The following is a list of the information included in the list and what it means:

Unique asset identity

The unique asset identity refers to the individual asset as either a land or building/block or lease reference. There is at least one entry per asset or user/owner (e.g. on one site there could be several buildings or in one building there could be several users/floors/rooms). This identifier is the original reference number from the asset register.

UPRN

The Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) is a unique twelve digit number assigned to every unit of land and property recorded by local government, this is a statutory obligation. The UPRN uniquely and definitively identifies every addressable location in the country. The numbers originate from Geo-Place (an OS and LGA joint venture).  

Property name and address

Details of the property name and address. This dataset includes Ordnance Survey derived data. 

Easting (Ordnance Survey National Grid) 

Northing (Ordnance Survey National Grid)

Tenure type

The tenure determines whether the local authority owns the freehold or a lease for the asset.

Tenure detail

The tenure is divided into further categories which refer to tenure or occupancy.

Holding type

 The holding type determines whether the asset is:

• land only without permanent buildings (land)
• land with a permanent building (land/|building)
• building only (building)

Licence information

This data is published under the Open Government Licence which permits open onward reuse. This dataset includes Ordnance Survey derived data. As such, you may use this for personal, non-commercial use only. By accessing the data you are deemed to have accepted the Public Sector End User Licence. 

A full dataset version including the GeoX, GeoY and UPRN derived from Ordnance Survey data can only be released for using the data to respond to, or interact with the Licensor to deliver or support the delivery of the Licensor's Core Business due to OS licensing restrictions under a PSMA end user licence - see Ordnance Survey: public sector licensing guide.

If you wish to use this data for commercial purposes, then you should contact Ordnance Survey via Ordnance Survey Contacts or telephone 03456 050 505 to discuss how they can help you with your requirements.