Rachel Eburne

In the last few months, Mid Suffolk District Council has made multi-million pound investments in commercial property in central Peterborough (high street coffee shop), Brentwood (retail store) and most recently in Milton Keynes (a car dealership).  Is this what the Council should be doing?  Should they be spending our money in this way?

In 2016, the Council agreed to borrow up to £25 million, set up a company (registered number 10814415) to invest in commercial property outside of the Mid Suffolk area and then, hopefully, invest the profits from this in council services – so-called “Profit for Purpose”.

The Green Group of District Councillors voted against this – for two main reasons; 1) if we have money to invest, let’s invest in truly affordable housing for our residents; and 2) why aren’t we investing in our own area.  (The Council’s HQ has been re-located outside of Mid Suffolk and the ruling party said it didn’t want to invest millions in Mid Suffolk either.)

Conversely, Ipswich Borough Council has borrowed money to invest in commercial property …. in Ipswich.

See the East Anglian Daily Times view on this.