THE COUNCIL could be set to spend more than £17 million on a warehouse in Peterborough.

Documents published on Wokingham Borough Council’s (WBC) website indicate it will bid up to £17,220,000 on a site at Cygnet Park, Peterborough.

Councillor Stuart Munro, executive member for business, economic development and strategic planning, said: “The council’s Investment Board recently agreed to seek to pursue bids on further potential investment opportunities. The bidding process is underway and competitive and therefore commercially sensitive. The bids may not succeed or lead to a purchase.

“We’re working hard to select diverse investment stock to build secure long-term income streams to support delivery of front line council services.

“We select our bid targets very carefully in line with our investment policy. Not all bids are successful as the investment market is very competitive, especially for high-quality low-risk assets.”

An online listing of the site indicates the asking price for the property is £15,900,000.

But details listed on the council’s website indicate WBC intends to bid “up to a max price” of £17.2 million.

The website outlines that under potential alternative options for the council in purchasing the property, submitting a reduced price could mean the seller offers the site to bidders elsewhere “in a competitive market place”.

Liberal Democrats councillor Clive Jones told The News that this was “not the right time” to be spending money on commercial properties.

He said: “Five-ten years ago was perhaps the right time (to be buying properties).

“Investment could all disappear over the next 12-18 months depending on what’s happening with Brexit.

“It is the wrong time because property prices at the moment are going down – we shouldn’t be buying when the market is going down.

“This is not the right time – it is local councillors indulging themselves in something they don’t know an awful lot about. It isn’t financially competent.”

According to property site Cushman and Wakefield, the council could see an income of £900,000 come its way per year if the bid is successful.

The site is currently occupied by Stapleton’s (Tyre Services) Limited and the building is currently owned by European Tyre Enterprise Limited, having been sold to the company in October 2017.

The listing on Cushman and Wakefield indicates that Stapleton’s, which has a turnover of more than £300m per year, will continue to lease the site for another 20 years upon completion of the sale.

WBC's budget documents for the coming year show the authority plans to pay out almost £100m on properties 2019 and 2020, with £55 million allocated for spending on 'strategic property and commercial assets'.

Liberal Democrats councillor Prue Bray added: “We don’t know exactly how they are financing this purchase but we believe it must be through borrowing. The council already has a huge debt burden and adding to it by buying businesses right now just before Brexit is risky.

“The Lib Dems are not at all happy with the process by which these decisions on buying property are made. We don’t know how they decide what to buy and the purchases are not subject to any scrutiny. Since the Conservatives set up their £100 million property fund, there has not been a single report telling people what they are doing with the money. That is simply not acceptable. If we were running the council we would not be carrying on like this.”

Lib Dem councillor Imogen Shepherd-DuBey also told The News:  "We are deeply concerned about how the council selects property for investment purposes.

"There appears to be no formal terms of reference and there is no visibility of the decision process. Until the point that Graham Ebers signs it off as the S151 officer, we do not know what the council is spending its investment money on.

"It all feels terribly risky to me."