ESSEX County Council owns an art collection worth millions – yet the Essex people, effectively its owners, never get to see much of it.

The exact current value of the paintings, photos, maps and documents we all own is not clear, but they are thought to be worth a cool £14million.

More light may soon be shone on the collection, however. Faced with a constant need to economise, the council is now looking closely at all its assets, including the kind of art it buys – and even whether it could sell off some of its collection.

The council never deliberately set out to amass an art collection.

It is largely the result of individual donations or works commissioned by the council – including portraits of illustrious councillors and notable Essex figures.

Portraits in the collection include one of Andrew Johnston, the council’s very first chairman, and renowned 17th-century naturalist John Ray, who lived in Black Notley, near Braintree.

Less revered is the council’s painting of disgraced peer Lord Hanningfield, jailed in 2011 for falsely claiming Parliamentary expenses, but previouslyalongserving Conservative leader of the council.

The collection also includes items acquired by the Essex Record Office as part of its brief as custodian of the county’s cultural heritage.

Some landscapes, such as paintings of Plotlands-era Basildon in the Forties and a Saxon cemetery in Orsett, have obvious Essex connections, other items are, perhaps, more tenuous.

It’s hard to imagine the Essex connection to scenes depicted in works such as A Fashionable Music Party, or and Lady Washing Her Hands.

The most likely explanation is such works were donated by visiting dignitaries or left to the collection as part of bequests.

Roger Hirst, the councillor under whose remit the collection falls, said: “Works of art held in the collection were either commissioned or donated. They were rarely, if ever, acquired as part of a collecting policy.

“The art collection includes portraits of royalty, High Sheriffs of Essex, Lord Lieutenants of Essex, council chairmen, elected members and officers senior Territorial Army officers and notable Essex figures.

“It also includes reconstructions of Essex archaeological sites, Essex landscapes, scenes from Essex history, and works by Essex artists.

“The collection is of little commercial interest and has limited civic or cultural value.”

While the council said most of the pictures are hanging on the walls of its buildings, it admits many are in areas where the public never goes.

In 2012, Sir Bob Russell, then Colchester’s Lib Dem MP wrote to the council urging it to put the collection on general display.

At the time, he argued: “These works are kept in trust by the county council on behalf of Essex residents.

“Instead of being, in the main, hidden from public enjoyment, I feel they should be released for display around the county.”

Last month, the council agreed a new policy for managing its art.

It decided it would continue to commission paintings of its chairmen, by that most other acquisitions would need the approval of a specialist board.

The policy also allows the council to consider selling items not deemed to be relevant to Essex, so long as it could be done within Museums Association and Arts Council codes of conduct.

Councillors have also agreed to look at ways of giving the collection a wider public airing.

The council’s new policy document says: “Typically, 50 per cent of the art collection is on display, with additional virtual access in the form of the BBC Your Paintings website.

“The council will consider how it can enable greater direct public access to its art collections for enjoyment and study.”