Glasgow City Council will sell off valuable assets to its own property company - then pay to lease them back to fund the equal pay settlement.

The council last week agreed a deal to settle the claims of around 14,000 women with a final bill in the region of £500 million.

The cash-strapped council has been investigating how best to raise the cash and using key city assets has emerged as the main option to provide the bulk of the cash

It would mean selling buildings like leisure centres and the Royal Concert Hall and the Emirates Arena built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games to City Property.

Historic and architecturally important buildings like the City Chambers and Kelvingrove Museum would be excluded from any deal.

READ MORE: Glasgow City Council confirms £500m equal-pay settlement

City Property, which is wholly owned by the council, would borrow cash from the lending market to purchase the buildings from the council, providing most of the cash to settle the claims.

Then the council would lease the buildings back and pay the cost of the City Property borrowing, probably be over 25 to 30 years.

A spokesman said: “Work on a financial strategy to meet the cost of settling equal pay has been ongoing, in parallel with negotiations, for a number of months.

“The council has previously acknowledged this will involve making best-use of the city’s assets over a number of years to support borrowing.

“Detailed proposals will be put before committee for approval in the near future.”

Women were celebrating last week when the council, unions and lawyers representing claimants announced they a had reached agreement on terms of a settlement.

The lawyer, Stefan Cross, who has taken forward thousands of the claims however said it will take months before offers are sent out and then more time before cash is in their bank accounts.

READ MORE: Equal pay agreement is just the beginning of the end for Glasgow 

The long-running sage came to a conclusion after years of the council under the previous Labour administration challenging court rulings.

Susan Aitken, SNP council leader said she would settle the cases and had the council agree to ending the legal challenge and work towards negotiating a deal.

However, there was still a bitter dispute which culminated in strike action towards the end of last year.

Meanwhile, Greens have warned that the cost of settling claims can’t be used to justify cuts to services.