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21 Jan 22
A housing subsidiary to which Cambridgeshire County Council has loaned £114m is at risk of failing to deliver on its business case, according to an independent report.
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18 Jan 22
An energy company in which Warrington Borough Council invested £52m has gone bust.
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26 May 20
Spelthorne Borough Council has received 90% of its March quarter rent due on its commercial assets, despite the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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12 Feb 20
Local authority investment in commercial property has increased fourteen-fold over three years as councils seek alternative sources of revenue amid cuts leaving them open to risk, the spending...
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8 Jan 20
South Somerset District Council has struck a commercial property deal worth nearly £10m for an office block 150 miles away.
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6 Nov 19
Councils could be subject to greater regulation if the sector continues to make controversial commercial property investments, CIPFA’s chief executive has warned.
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17 Sep 19
Local authority investment in shopping centres is expected to hit £1bn over a four-year period, analysis has found.
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29 Jul 19
Local authorities’ use of the Public Works Loan Board has rocketed in the last year, figures have shown.
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27 Jun 19
Financially squeezed social services and schools have become the top concerns for the chair of the government’s public spending watchdog.
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11 Jun 19
Councils are still being called on to do more with less but the move towards investment in commercial property may not be an appropriate response, says CIPFA’s Don Peebles.
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17 May 19
The public spending watchdog is investigating the government’s oversight of councils’ commercial property investment, MPs have heard.
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15 Feb 19
Spelthorne Borough Council will drop its controversial commercial property investment strategy to focus on housebuilding.
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13 Dec 18
Councils’ spending power could rise to £46.4bn next year, a real-terms increase, local government secretary James Brokenshire revealed as he published the provisional settlement today.
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14 Nov 18
Amid huge uncertainty about funding services beyond 2020, councils are turning to commercial property as an income stream, but are they managing the risks? Rachel Willcox reports.
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18 Oct 18
CIPFA is to work on fresh guidance over concerns councils in England are putting public funds at “unnecessary or unquantified risk” when borrowing to invest in commercial property.
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12 Oct 18
Local authority spending on commercial trading services has increased “significantly” over the last four years, government data has revealed.
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2 Oct 18
Greater fiscal devolution, commercialisation and students paying council tax were all mooted solutions to squeezed local government funding, at a Conservative Party conference fringe session...
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10 Sep 18
Oxford City Council has launched a commercial drone service to provide services including surveying, land mapping and photography.
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20 Jul 18
The role of local government is changing. Commercialisation is now a necessary response to funding cuts and a new freedom to take risks, says Zurich’s Andrew Jepp
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13 Jul 18
Increased commercial activity is leaving public sector organisations exposed to the vagaries of the market, insurer Zurich Municipal has warned.
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12 Jul 18
Negative aspects of commercialisation could be avoided with more scrutiny of failures, a consultant told the CIPFA conference on Wednesday.
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27 Jun 18
Less than half of risk professionals in public sector organisations have said there is not enough risk awareness when managing commercial projects, research has suggested.
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5 Feb 18
Councils are increasingly investing in commercial assets. Is this a sensible way to generate cash or a risky gamble?