THE £100 million investment in commercial property by West Berkshire Council (WBC) needs to be more transparent, an auditor has warned. 

The council has recently taken out £100 million in debt to buy offices, shops and warehouses as far away as Yorkshire.

It will use the rent from those properties to make up for some of the cuts to funding public services by central government. 

However, WBC’s external auditor, Grant Thornton, said there should be more transparency in how the council decides which properties to buy.

Barrie Morris, a director at Grant Thornton, told the governance and ethics committee on July 29 that the processes could be clearer. 

He said: “This is coming under a lot of scrutiny from the government and the regulators. Is it appropriate that councils are going out there and making a lot of investments? 

“There needs to be more transparency around those decisions. It’s not clear how much information is coming to [councillors]. Is it delivering the level of income you were expecting it to?

“It looks like transparency could be improved.” 

Across the country, many councils are spending hundreds of millions of public money on investing in real estate, a recent investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found. 

Sarah Clarke, head of legal at WBC, defended the commercial property investment at the committee meeting. She said: “The process was approved by the full council, to delegate to officers in consultation with [councillors].

“Members of the opposition have been in those meetings. The conclusion of Grant Thornton is incorrect.”

Councillor Jeff Beck (Con, Newbury Clay Hill) said: “We are dealing with commercially sensitive information, which we wouldn’t want to make available to the general public.” 

A recent freedom of information request revealed WBC has spent £502,150.29 since 2017 on consultants to advise them which properties to buy.