New Forest District Council cabinet votes in favour of 'largest' investment yet in commercial property

THE "biggest" single commercial investment by New Forest District Council has been signed off by the ruling cabinet.

Cllr Jeremy Heron, the cabinet member for finance, successfully urged colleagues to unanimously back the project, which he dubbed "major", adding: "The is the largest single one-off purchase we have done."

However, no details of the deal could be revealed, said NFDC leader Cllr Edward Heron, due to the commercial confidentiality of the potential purchase.

As reported in the A&T, in recent years NFDC has begun to make investments in housing and commercial land, partly to help balance its books.

In 2021 it announced it had bought a site off Crow Lane in Ringwood for £10.8m to develop into a hub with industrial units, two-storey blocks for small businesses and parking areas.

NFDC is currently undertaking the enhancement and claimed it could create anything up to 200 jobs and will reduce commuting, benefitting the environment.

It said the projected return on the project was around 5%.