Basingstoke and Deane’s senior councillors have been challenged on their attitude towards providing funds for major facilities in Basingstoke, including the Camrose football ground and Planet Ice rink.

One opposition councillor said “it is incumbent on us to help out” and pointed out that, despite claims that it does not finance private enterprises, the council has a “track record in these things.”

At a cabinet meeting this week, members discussed the council’s property investment strategy, which has seen it invest £23 million in private property.

Leader of the Basingstoke Labour Group, Cllr Andrew McCormick, asked: “To what extent do the people of Basingstoke directly benefit from this? And can we expect similar investments in our football club and ice rink when they need it, as they do?”

Leader of the council, Cllr Ken Rhatigan responded by suggesting that investment in either of those projects may not generate enough money to make it worthwhile.

He said: “I am not sure what returns we would get on our money if we were to invest in private firms, so it is not the strategy of this council to invest in private enterprise. We allow individuals to make that decision for themselves.”

However, he added: “The council will take a view on it if there are a set of proposals in front of us, but currently there is nothing in front of us and therefore we cannot just put our finger in the wind and say it feels good, it feels the right thing to do, because that is not the way we need to deal with finances.”

Cllr John Izett, member for regeneration and property, said that the council’s investments added £1.7 million to its annual income, which “is obviously very useful given the difficulties we are facing as a council at the moment.”

He added that the completion of planned £8.9 million investment in property at Basing View for pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly will bring this annual income amount to £2.31 million.

“Our residents certainly do directly benefit from the holdings that we have in commercial property,” he said.

“We are very cautious, We don’t borrow to invest. Those returns wouldn't be available in relation to a football club or to an ice rink.”

Cllr McCormick then pointed out that financial decisions taken previously by the council suggest a “track record” in supporting such town facilities - for example in its ownership of roughly 30 per cent of the Camrose land.

He said: “I would like to note that this council did own a significant amount of the Camrose land that the football club stands on and actually did build the ice rink and initially own the ice rink. So we do have a track record in these things. And when it looks like these things, which are of manifest public benefit, are in trouble, I think it is incumbent on us to help out and not say we are not getting involved in private enterprise.

“They weren’t always private, we’ve had a stake in those in the past, and things can change pretty quickly in the commercial property market as well.”

Cllr Izett responded by saying that it was actually a previous Labour council administration that sold the ice rink, and that while the council recognises its value to the town, it will not “abandon its principles”.

He said: “We are trying to do what we can to help there. We understand the value of the ice rink to the people of Basingstoke, but we are not going to abandon our principles in making sure the residents of this borough get value for money in anything we do.

“In relation to the Camrose, it’s not quite as straightforward as to say we used to own it. We had the freehold, but it was subject to a very long lease. Our ownership of the Camrose ground has always been very remote.”

Cllr Rhatigan added: “We ensure that that money is reinvested into us as a borough to keep our council tax low and our services high.

“But we are not a speculative council because we cannot take chances with people’s money that has been invested over many years to build up a situation where we are financially stable.”