The former Weymouth Family Centre is among property which Dorset County Council plans to dispose of.

The site, in Cromwell Road, is currently used as the Horizon West family contact centre and offices for social services staff.

Other sites are expected to be approved for sale, or disposal, in Shaftesbury and Wareham with councillors also being asked to dispose of some artworks, including some items relating to Thomas Hardy.

A decision on the disposals is expected to be made at the county council Cabinet meeting next Wednesday, June 27.

The Cromwell Road site is expected to be available for vacant possession in November after staff have been relocated to other offices. The county council has not said where family contact sessions, currently held in the building, will take place after the move.

Other land deals include an agreement with the NHS for part of the Wareham Middle School site to be used to build a doctor's surgery and to transfer an area of land at Salisbury Street, Shaftesbury to the town council for use as a public open space.

Also to go are an oil painting of a townscape at Blandford Museum and “to transfer a number of low value other pieces of visual art, mainly of Thomas Hardy, and local pottery to any local museum on a renewable five-year agreement and if not of interest to any museum, to the disposal of these items through a local auction sale.”

A report to the Cabinet says the council has already gained £13.78 million over a three year period through sales of assets – with a target of a further £7.2m for the 2018/19 financial year. Over the same period the county council has disposed of 12,835 m2 of office accommodation – 31.3 per cent of its overall office floor area.

But one sale which will not be going ahead is the planned disposal of council offices at St Andrews, Bridport which will now be used to re-house Bridport Connect Day Centre which needs to move from its offices in Flood Lane.

The site was declared surplus in June 2016 and was put on the market in summer last year when it became vacant. It was offered to a local nursery – until a solicitor acting for the Colfox Estate claimed it had right to the proceeds from the sale. The claim has been disputed by the county council.