Liberal Democrat County Councillors have criticised Surrey County Council’s plan to set aside income derived from property acquisitions into further property speculation rather than investing in services.

According to the latest budget figures, the County Council is facing an overspend of £19 million in the current financial year but is planning to set aside £3.8m of income generated from property to invest in more property rather than take the pressure off council services which are facing cuts of £104 million this year.

The Conservative Administration at County Hall has said all along that the reason we are investing millions in commercial property across the country is to generate revenue which will protect council services in the future.

Yet, as millions of pounds worth of cuts have been made by this Conservative Administration to services for vulnerable and disabled adults, for people with learning disabilities, for community recycling centres, for street lights and much more, we see income from the County Council’s property investments being set aside for more property investment rather than alleviating the huge financial strain on vital services to Surrey residents.

We are thus calling for the Conservative Administration to do what they said and put this property income into protecting services for Surrey residents, rather than investing more public money in commercial property hundreds of miles from Surrey.