A DISTRICT council has pocketed £3.2m from selling an historic jail.

Vale of White Horse District Council has secured the cash after selling Abingdon’s Old Gaol to a developer.

Cranbourne originally gave the council £2m for the plot, and then built 61 apartments and three restaurants there.

It has now given the Vale an extra £1.2m from the sale of the apartments.

The Vale said the total £3.2m was “far in excess” of the amount offered by other developers in the original tender process, and said it offered “good value” to taxpayers.

It also said Cranbourne’s scheme offered the greatest amount of public access to the historic site.

Designed by Jeffry Wyatt, the Bridge Street Gaol on the Thames was built between 1805 and 1812 as a county jail by Daniel Harris at a cost of £26,000.

The building had served its purpose for nearly 60 years when it was sold to the County of Berkshire for £2,571 in 1874.

Berkshire’s successor, Vale of White Horse council, sold the site to Cranbourne in December 2007.

The local authority said the site was then worth £6.3m, but it said after the 2008 global recession hit, it reduced the price to ensure the sale went ahead.

The original deal also required Cranbourne to build some affordable social housing in the town, but the Vale conceded on this point too, and instead asked the developer for a contribution of £1m, which the Vale has put towards its housing budget.