CASH-STRAPPED Aberystwyth University owns almost 20 unoccupied properties — most of which have been empty for five years or more, the Cambrian News can reveal.

A Freedom of Information request shows the university is sitting on 18 disused assets which have been empty for a combined period of at least 100 years.

This comes despite the threat of 150 job losses hanging over university staff as new vice-chancellor Elizabeth Treasure identified the need to make savings of £11.4m to stave off “serious financial problems”.

The Cambrian News asked how much the properties were worth, but the university refused, claiming the information could harm its commercial interests.

The empty properties include Plas Penglais Lodge, which has been unoccupied for more than 10 years; and the row of houses near Royal Oak Irish Bridge, the ford near Penrhyncoch crossroads, which have been empty for between four and six years. Many of the properties could be rented out or sold to local people desperate to find accommodation to live in.

An Aberystwyth University spokesperson said: “Aberystwyth University has carried out a thorough review of its estate and has identified properties which are no longer required for teaching, research or accommodation - several of these are on the list you have of empty properties.

“We have procured a real estate specialist to draw up a comprehensive marketing strategy for these properties which may then be offered for sale, rent or other use as part of the university’s wider Sustainability Implementation Plan.”

See the full list of properties and read the full story in this week’s Cambrian News, on sale now