The Galician manor where Francisco Franco spent his summers fishing and shooting is at the centre of an ownership battle after the Spanish dictator’s heirs put the property up for sale for €8m (£7m).

The Pazo de Meirás, which was built in the late 19th century, was bought by public subscription and handed to Franco in 1938 as a gift from the people of A Coruña.

When he died in 1975, it passed to his daughter, Carmen, who became the 1st Duchess of Franco. Following her death last December, her heirs decided to sell the manor. A high-end estate agent is advertising it as a unique property with a price tag to match.

The local authority is fighting the move, over which it says it should have been consulted because the pazo is a registered site of cultural interest. Sada council wants to halt the sale and look into how the property could be returned to public ownership.

Two committees will meet this week to decide the next steps and provide legal and historical arguments in support of the initiative. “We want to speed up the work of both commissions to find how we can do things and to launch legal proceedings to get the sale contract annulled,” said Sada’s urban planning councillor, Francisco Montouto.

He said the house and grounds belonged to the Galician people and ought to be returned to them “at zero cost”. For too long, the Pazo de Meirás had served as a monument to Galicia’s most infamous son rather than to his victims, he said.

“Here, it’s not like in other countries in Europe where you can overturn the symbols of dictatorship,” he said. “The truth is that it’s a symbolic place that should serve as a way to commemorate all those who suffered and died under the repression of the Franco dictatorship.

“Beyond what it might mean to the council as a site of cultural interest and a part of the area’s heritage, it’s a symbolic matter of doing away, once and for all, with the legacy of this brutal dictatorship.”