COUNCILLORS have been left questioning how much the council has spent on a new investment that has seen them buy a town centre Premier Inn.

As previously reported, the hotel in Victoria Street has been added to the council’s property portfolio.

The council have said the investment will give a 'good rate of return' to support essential local services.

Since the news group leaders within the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have seemed to take different views on whether this will be good or bad for the town. 

READ MORE: Borough council buys town centre Premier Inn investment 'to benefit the borough'

Cllr Paul Harvey the leader of the Independent group said: “The council purchasing the hotel in return for investment is a good start to secure our income revenue so that is a good thing.

“It is a different story as to how it fits into the vision of the new town centre in Basingstoke. So I think we need to understand how this fits in to the visuals of the town centre.

“It is welcome news that the council is looking to get assets but on the other hand we need to know the bigger picture and I think it creates more questions.

“We need to know how the cabinet actually invest in the town centre and at the moment we don’t seem to know. Other than the fact they want to build a load of houses that no one actually wants.”

The leader of the Labour group Cllr Andrew McCormick has taken a slightly different opinion although still holds many reservations.

He said: “We do need more hotels and we do have a shortage of them. It seems to be in a good place. We need to support our entertainment venues.

“They haven’t said how much they have paid for it but when I last checked it was going for not far off £7.9million so I suspect it was not far of £10million. I think what we really need is more government funding because our funding has been cut drastically. I would like to see more spent on services.”

Meanwhile the leader of the Liberal Democrats group Cllr Gavin James said the deal is simply “an investment".

He added: “I don’t think this will impact the any future plans for the town centre. There have been loads of plans for the vision of the town centre over the last years and they have all been completely pie in the sky and never happen. I really don’t think this will have any effect.

“I don’t think there is anything more to do, I suspect it is just a simple investment. I haven’t seen all the details but hopefully it is a good way of spending taxpayers’ money.”

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Meanwhile Cllr Michael Howard-Sorrell, the ward councillor for Brookvale and Kings Furlong has questioned how much the investment has cost.

He added: “At first glance, this seems like a great idea; However, the timing and details for this specific acquisition are suspect. Firstly, how much did this cost? We're told that the council expects £400,000 revenue to be made per year for reinvestment in services, but don't specify how much public money was spent on this purchase.

“Secondly, if we have money to spend and want to make a profit, how about building council houses? We're in desperate need of more high-quality homes in this borough. Alternatively, what about a solar farm? We're in an energy crisis, and there's plenty of room for profit to be made and reinvested while providing a service from which the community could benefit. “