City Council plans investment to support services
Up to £10m could be invested in property by Winchester City Council to produce rental income that supports services and compensates for loss of Government grant.
The City Council has lost £2m in funding over the past four years, with a further £1.5m of reductions expected by 2020. Now Cabinet is recommending property investments with an expected rate of return of 5-6% as part of its new strategy over the next three years.
The ‘Strategic Asset Purchase Scheme’ will focus on the two Local Enterprise Partnership (LEPs) areas of which the City Council is a part: the Solent LEP and the Enterprise M3 LEP.
Cllr Stephen Godfrey, the Leader of Winchester City Council, said:
The Council needs to operate in a more entrepreneurial manner, and through this scheme we will be stepping into a much more commercial way of working.
The scheme should support the Council’s ambition to be self-reliant in income streams in the long-term, and will focus wherever appropriate on purchasing local commercial investments.”
Cllr Godfrey added: “Many councils across the county and country are engaging in schemes such as this; we see it as part of our wider diversification of investments.
This initiative alone will not insulate the Council from the financial challenges it faces, but it is a key element of the overall efficiency plan that we expect to deliver in the next three years.