Council in prestigious industry recognition

The ‘entrepreneurial’ council has been handed prestigious industry recognition, being hailed dealmaker of the year by a global real estate media group.

Commercial publishing house CoStar has congratulated the council for its swift and successful leasing of its newly purpose-built manufacturing and industrial units in Limberline Spur and Hilsea Industrial Estate.

Property consultancy firm Vail Williams pipped the team to the post, as the team completed the most industrial deals in the city in the past 12 months.

The council has almost completed the build of new shopping development Portsmouth Retail Park, near North Harbour.

This new scheme should bring in an extra £1m a year and will allow eight shopping and food outlets and a gym at the site.

Leader of the council, Cllr Donna Jones, said: ‘We know the government’s revenue support grant is being replaced by 100 per cent business rate retention, so we must ensure we are a forward thinking council with a proactive and ambitious appetite for income generation,

‘We are not just sitting back and accepting the reduction in government grant, we are doing everything we can to bring in extra money to help maintain and improve the services that matter most to local people,

‘That is the basis for our property investment strategy.

‘Being one of the most entrepreneurial councils is protecting local services.

‘We are doing something that has never been done before in Portsmouth, and it’s fantastic that the industry recognises the good job we are doing.’