Property and land worth £900 million and acquired by Bradford Council over more than a century is being recorded and scrupulously evaluated.

For the first time councillors will find exactly what the authority owns, what the property is worth and whether it is good value for the district's council tax payers

It ranges from upright pianos - which are surplus because of the schools' re-organisation from three to two tiers - to grandiose Grade One listed City Hall.

Today the district's first director of asset management Linda Carmichael, 46, said property and land acquired by councillors from Victorian times to modern day would come under scrutiny.

Much of it was acquired through compulsory purchase orders to make way for developments and road schemes which never took place. The stocks have been managed by the council's property services division.

But the council has brought in its new director on a salary band of between £52,000 and £60,000 as Government pressure grows to ensure they are best value to council tax payers

But Mrs Carmichael says her role is far removed from selling off the family silver for the hard-up authority.

"It is a very challenging and exciting time," she said. "If you had a house which needed big roof repairs you would weigh up whether the property was worth it and look at all the options in terms of finance.

"The first job is the assets register. There are 800 areas of land and property and it is not an easy process.

"It is all about having a policy about what we own, where it is, how much it costs to run, buy or rent and whether the council needs it. You also look to see if it is uder used. And it serves the pubic properly."

The properties on the register include Esholt's Woolpack Inn once used for the Emmerdale television soap. They also include the Design Exchange in Little Germany - which the council is already considering selling as it ends some of its sheletered business schemes.

The Alhambra Theatre, St George's Hall, golf clubs, farms, football pitches and houses - excluding council estates - will be judged in terms of best value.

The asset management directorate is not only about buildings and land, however. it deals with many other items.

Even the pianos and work benches from schools which are empty because of the education shake up have come under the hammer. A recent sale raised £4,000 about a quarter of the cost of a full time teacher - and other sales are likely to follow.

The council decided to appoint a top officer to spearhead the work after an Audit Commission report showed many local authorities were not getting the best out of their property assets.

Mrs Carmichael said: "You have to be flexible, looking at the job the property does and the options. You have to have analytical skill and knowledge of the market."

She said when the huge task of preparing the register was complete reports would go to councillors. Then criteria for measuring the usefulness of the properties would be drawn up.

She said the largest portfolio she had dealt with since obtaining a degree in urban land administration at Portsmouth Polytech was owned by insurers, Scottish Widows. She also worked with Manchester Council and Norfolk Constabulary.

Her husband, Alastair is a marine engineer, and the couple have moved into the first asset they have acquired in the Bradford area - a house which they have bought in Burley-in- Wharfedale.