AN INVESTMENT portfolio held by the borough council is valued at more than a quarter of a billion pounds, it has been revealed.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is well known for its investment in property, and it was revealed earlier this week that its assets are valued at £272 million, as of March 2020.

Included in the council's portfolio is an £8.9 million investment in the construction a new headquarters for pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly at Basing View, which is set to bring over £500,000 a year in rent.

It receives a total annual rental income of almost £17.5 million, which is funnelled back into its services and makes up roughly an eighth of its total income.

55 per cent of this comes from industrial properties, whilst another 25 per cent is from retail.

The portfolio is held "to provide the council with a source of annual income to support financing the delivery of services across the borough".

Last year, the council appointed investment firm JLL to advise it on its strategy, evaluate its current assets and identify underperforming assets.

Presenting the authority's latest investment plan to his cabinet colleagues on Tuesday, Cllr John Izett said: "Property provides 12.39 per cent of all our income, which is something in the order of £15.45 million a year.

"Following on from the successful investment of £32.49 million in generating commercial assets in the borough, this plan focuses on a number of key priorities aiming on ensuring we have a portfolio that is more balanced across sectors, of better quality, offers better opportunities for growth and is more defensive."

The cabinet member for regeneration added that the upcoming development of St Modwen business park in Viables would "provide new industrial units and in so doing creating something in the order of 250 job opportunities".

"That is why it is important we look at property not just as income but as bringing in new investment and providing new jobs at a very difficult time for people.

"It is important we make our portfolio work hard and one of the improvements is that we will be benchmarking our performance against other councils and the UK property index."

Leader of the Labour group on the borough council, Cllr Andy McCormick, said that he was "encouraged" that one of the goals of the property investment strategy was to assess its environmental performance.

"We have this 2025 deadline to be carbon neutral, and we want the rest of the borough to be carbon neutral by 2030.

"Whilst it's important to note we have 250 new jobs at St Modwen, it has to be considered we have lost 2,500 retail jobs."

He added that because of the borough council's reliance in investment in industrial, retail and office property, all of which "is under threat" from "Brexit, Covid, and changing ways of working", there was a risk of losing "a big hit" of income.

But Cllr Izett responded: "There has been a big impact of Covid on retail employment and that is why the council is leading on a new town centre strategy aimed at ensuring our town centre flourishes in the future.

"We have to deal with the huge impacts of things like pandemics and this council is going to be quick in its response in an economic recovery package for our town centre."

Council leader, Cllr Ken Rhatigan, added: "The diversity that we have got in our portfolio means that we are robust and agile.

"We can change some of what we’ve got to be something else so we can take account of trends.

"I believe our income is secure in the long term, there will be short term bumps in the road as the economy recovers from Covid, but the horizons long term are sunny and we should be trumpeting how well placed we are, not just for people who are in our accommodation at the moment but those that are attracted to us as they move out of London and choose where they would like to be based.

"I am very confident of where we are and I look forward to an improving structure and income as time goes by."