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 week’s cabinet meeting, Surrey’s cabinet member for business services Denise Le Gal confirmed almost £67 million of public money has been spent on buying six properties outside of Surrey since November 2015.

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

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

Mrs Le Gal, who is also the county councillor for Farnham North, defended the purchases as “one of a series of responses to improve the financial resilience of the council in the longer term”.

However, Mrs Watson hit back, commenting that the £67m “would be 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 whilst 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 said the expected net income to the council of £1.2m per annum from the properties means “we do not have to find equivalent savings from services to residents”.

She added by way of a written response: “Halsey Garton Property Ltd (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 £30 million.