Council property portfolio gives frontline services massive cash boost
FRONTLINE council services will see a multi-million pound cash injection thanks to money generated from its commercial property investments.
New figures show the authority generated £7.1 million over the last 12 months – an increase of 2.89 per cent.
Overall, the developed properties, owned by the council, produced a total net return of 6.2 per cent compared to the bank base rate of 0.3 per cent.
The money will go towards fixing and preventing potholes, delivering social care for adults and children, and other frontline services, helping to mitigate some of the demand pressures facing critical services.
Councillor Byron Rhodes, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “It is very encouraging to see our portfolio of properties is thriving and performing better than the industry average.
“This continued good performance allows us to fund important services at this particularly difficult time with Covid-19 putting additional burdens on our finances.
“Our approach of bringing new life to old commercial sites and building new workspaces is creating hundreds of jobs and boosting the economy.
“Crucially, it means we can invest money into vital frontline services, maintaining our roads, bringing down the inconvenience to people who use them, and explore how we can bolster social care services, supporting vulnerable people.”
Land and units are bought using one-off pots of money.
The council’s property portfolio includes:
■ A new 100,000 sq ft building at Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park – creating a new HQ for tech firm The Access Group. It will create 500 jobs when it opens in November 2020.
■ Apollo Business Park in Coalville – offering 40,000 sq. ft industrial units and creating 120 jobs. Eight units have been let, with another four under offer.
■ Airfield Business Park in Market Harborough – the council expanded the site by 80,000 sq ft to offer industrial units to let, creating more than 200 jobs.
Eight out of the 12 units available have been let, with another two und e r offer.
■ Quorn so la r farm - plans to build a 62-acre solar farm – producing clean, green energy – alongside 45,500 sq ft of small business units have been submitted for approval.
The authority is aiming to ensure that its developments will be built as sustainable as possible, with the aim of producing zero carbon in the construction phase and be as energy efficient as possible as part of a pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030.
The Corporate Asset Investment Fund annual report was discussed by the council’s Scrutiny Commission.
It means we can invest money into vital frontline services, maintaining our roads...