Metal doors, work clothing and transport parts are among items made available on an eBay account created by a metropolitan borough council.

Barnsley MBC’s environment and transport department has created the account to sell surplus stock items.

The new venture has been launched alongside existing methods of recovering costs from obsolete items – reuse, recycling or disposing them at a cost.

Roy Miller, cabinet spokesperson for place, said: “Using Ebay will provide us with another channel to manage surplus stock and will also give members of the public, along with council staff and partners, the opportunity to bid for items and goods.

“In a time when we are facing Government cuts to our funding, we are having to think more creatively and business-like in order to maintain our services. A few other councils have been successfully using eBay so I’m happy that we are also giving it a go here in Barnsley.”

Items which could end up on the account include surplus highway materials, plant equipment, transport parts, street lighting materials, protective clothing and general supplies and materials.

The pilot will be reviewed in six months with a view to expanding the scope of items that are eligible for auction.

The council is far from the first to set up an Ebay site.

Conwy Council in Wales began selling items from all departments in 2005 but its account now appears to be defunct.