LAND at Harvest Hill, Wooburn Green, which Wycombe District Council did not know it owned, could bring in £1 million, if the council can get planning permission to build two top-of-the-range homes there.

Currently, ponies graze on the grass. But nearby, spacious new homes, packed with the latest computer-controlled wizardry and all mod cons, sold for up to £2.5 million.

Nine offers have been put in for the council's desirable bit of real estate, but the sale will depend on planning permission.

The land is zoned for housing in the district plan.

Council leader Lesley Clarke said the council's head of property services, Charles Brocklehurst, had discovered the council owned the land, but that no-one knew how or why the council had come by it. "We are looking at all the land we have, and there are lots of little bits we don't need. If we can sell them for housing, it helps to raise money."

Half the money from any land sale will be put into the council's fund for infrastructure improvements in High Wycombe.

Cllr Clarke said: "The Government is saying we have to build new houses, but they won't come up with the money for the infrastructure."