SURREY County Council has been criticised for “pleading poverty and cutting services” while spending millions of pounds on property outside of the county.

Responding to a question by leader of the council’s opposition Lib Dems group Hazel Watson at last month’s cabinet meeting, Surrey’s member for business services Denise Le Gal confirmed almost £67million had been spent on buying six properties outside of Surrey since November 2015.

The properties were mainly warehouses situated in locations such as Wiltshire, Bristol, Worksop and Salford, purchased using a council-owned firm called Halsey Garton Property.

The most expensive acquisition was an office in Bristol, one of phone company EE’s bases, at the cost of just under £20million.

Mrs Le Gal defended the purchases as “one of a series of responses” to improve the council’s long-term financial resilience.

But Mrs Watson hit back, claiming the £67million would have been “better invested in Surrey”.

The opposition leader said: “Surrey’s roads and footways are in urgent need of improvement, some of our town centres need investment to help regenerate the local economy and boost economic growth.

“Buying a warehouse in Wiltshire, or an office block in Bristol, does not boost the economy of Surrey. I am calling on the council to change its policy with regard to spending millions of pounds on property outside of the county.

“The Conservative administration at County Hall is pleading poverty and cutting services while at the same time spending money on warehouses miles away from Surrey.

“Residents deserve better and for money to be spent where it is needed, instead being frittered away outside of Surrey.”

Mrs Le Gal, who represents Farnham North, said the expected net income to the council of £1.2million per annum from the properties meant Surrey did not have to find equivalent savings from resdidents’ services.

She added in a written response: “Halsey Garton Property (HGP), a company wholly owned by the council, was created in order to strengthen the council’s ability to invest in a diversified and balanced portfolio of assets for their income return.

“The council has provided the funding to enable HGP to purchase assets for investment purposes.

“The council is able to provide this funding because the income generated by the asset is higher than the cost of providing the finance.”

Surrey County Council has also pledged an as-yet-undisclosed sum to Waverley Borough Council for the retail element of the Brightwells regeneration scheme on land south of East Street, Farnham – now believed to be worth around £30million.