NOT for the first time, Brighton and Hove looks like using its property portfolio to get out of a financial hole.

By selling its flagship headquarters King’s House on Hove seafront, the cash-strapped authority can make many millions of pounds.

There is bound to be a big demand for such a prestigious site which would be valuable either for top class offices or luxury flats.

Back in the 1970s Brighton Council had to move fast to put up the first purpose built conference centre in Britain.

This was because the King’s West centre on the seafront had suddenly and unexpectedly become unavailable.

Times were tough financially then as they are now and at first it seemed there was little hope of raising the estimated £4million for a new building.

But the council sold St Mary’s Farm at Falmer for a substantial sum and also got rid of some prime housing land in Preston Road which became known as the golden acres.

The rest of the cash was raised by selling some of the council’s land holding at Portslade which had been kept specifically for this kind of emergency. It was often referred to as the piggy bank land.

In the event the Brighton Centre cost £10 million but the council managed to raise the rest of the cash without further sales.

Another valuable land holding the council had was Churchill Square, the main shopping centre, in Western Road.

The original outside square, built-in the late 1960s, quickly became dated and by the 1990s it became clear that an indoor mall was needed.

But developers Standard Life were understandably chary about taking a risk on this central site at a time when out of town shopping was all the rage.

They were persuaded to go ahead when the council offered to sell them the site. The result was one of Standard Life’s greatest commercial successes and a centre which attracts millions of customers each year.

Most councils have a fair amount of land and property but it tends to be mainly centred on council houses. Brighton has much more than that.

It holds huge tracts of downland bought in the 1920s and 1930s to stop the remorseless spread of housing onto the hills. Brighton also has extremely valuable commercial property including the freehold of most of the shops on the north side of Western Road.

At one time it even owned a pub called the Withdean Sportsman next to the athletics stadium. It never made money under municipal ownership but as soon as it was sold to a pub chain, it prospered.

There is always a danger that councillors will sell the wrong property at the wrong time and strike a bad bargain. But with the way prices are soaring in the city that seems unlikely. The demand for land and buildings is insatiable.

Looking well into the future, I foresee that the downland holding will prove more profitable than anything there has ever been in the past.

The pressure for housing is so remorseless that the council will almost certainly be forced to sell some sites and the amount of cash raised would be huge. It would be extremely ironic if land bought to stop housing many years ago should almost a century later be sold after all. But I am sure it will happen.

After all, who would have thought King’s House, the council’s own headquarters, would be put up for sale?

Councillors will not be happy at selling what, for a family, would be selling the silver. But the alternative of deep cuts in frontline services is almost unthinkable.

Meanwhile the council has cause to be grateful to the wise men and women over the years who built up the property portfolio knowing it would come in useful someday. That day has come.

Christmas seems to come earlier every year with some shops stocking gifts in late August. But have you noticed that honouring the war dead is becoming a whole season rather than a day?

I noticed that the first poppies to be worn by politicians and newsreaders this year were donned on October 22. As Remembrance Day is not until November 11, this means they will be worn for almost three weeks.

That’s far too long. It’s as if people at the top of their professions vie with each other in piety. The period for wearing poppies should be reduced to run from Remembrance Sunday to the moment when the First World War stopped at 11am on November 11. It is fitting to wear poppies in tribute to those who died in them.