A HAMPSHIRE council has spent £11m of taxpayers’ money investing in commercial properties on a retail park.

It is expected the buildings on the Southampton Road Retail Park, Park Gate, will take 14 years to return the investment – generating around £750,000 a year for Fareham Borough Council.

The authority now owns most of the buildings on the site including the properties occupied by Argos, Dunelm, Carpetbarn, B&Q, Pets at Home and Carpetright.

It does not own the units let to Smyths Toys or Home Bargains. It takes the total number of authority-owned investments owned by the authority to eight, worth a total of £26.5m.

The purchase was made under the terms of a government strategy, after a cut in government funding allowed councils to secure property allowing it an alternative income stream.

FBC now own Clifton House, in Brunel Way, Segensworth, let to Coopervision Manufacturing Ltd, buildings rented to Sainsbury’s on Seaside, Eastbourne and Mitcham Lane, Streatham and a property occupied by Tesco on Ringwood Road, in Poole.

As well as this it also owns a building on St Thomas Street, in Weymouth let to Specsavers and a property in Armstrong Road, Littlemore, Oxford, rented to Busy Bees Nurseries.

Last week the Daily Echo reported Southampton City Council taking similar steps, investing in three commercial properties worth £21.1m.

This included two Southampton retail warehouses on Winchester Road occupied by Wickes and Halfords as well as an office building in Cambridge let to Nokia and Virgin Media.

Eastleigh Borough Council has pumped money into hotels while Portsmouth City Council has acquired the Mercedes dealership offices in Eastleigh for the same reasons.

Councillor Sean Woodward said: “By being creative, we have been able to achieve this despite seeing our government support reduce by over £3m per year, and I’m very pleased to see this property purchase strengthen our portfolio even further.”