Shropshire Star

Shropshire Council recruiting commercial investment expert

Shropshire Council is looking for a £50,000-a-year commercial investment manager to lead a team tasked with raising more than £8 million by 2023.

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Shropshire Council is advertising for an investment manager

The 37-hour-a-week position is being advertised by the authority as it looks for someone to manage a series of business investments, which it hopes will produce a significant return.

The most high profile commercial investment has been the council's purchase of Shrewsbury's shopping centres for more than £50 million.

Another significant development has been confirmation of the authority's move into the house building business, after councillors voted to set up a house building company earlier this year.

The advert for the job says the council wants an investment and commercial team made up of ten members of staff.

The commercial focus for the council has represented a shift in policy in recent years and has been taken as the authority looks to find ways to fill the gaps in its budget created by a continuing fall in the amount of funding from government.

The council has attempted commercial operations in the past, although in a different form.

The authority set up a company called ip&e in 2012, which was intended to bring in income by selling council services to other organisations.

It lasted around four years and was shut down as an experiment that had "not worked as we had hoped", according to the council's leader at the time, Councillor Malcolm Pate.

Spearhead

The most recent approach is a departure from the ip&e initiative, with the council now looking at more traditional businesses such as the shopping centres and the construction of homes.

The advert for the commercial investment manager position states: "This exciting new role will spearhead the council’s commercial and investment programme and lead a team which will appraise, co ordinate and deliver a continuous pipeline of projects to support growth in housing, jobs and skills in the county.

"Primarily these projects must generate a sustainable return on investment for the council.

"The team will work closely with a range of colleagues, partners and specialists in the public and commercial sector to analyse the best opportunities for investment in land, property and other assets which reflects the council’s strategic ambitions and plans."

The description of the council's position outlines the ambitions for the level of income the authority wants to generate.

It states: "The council purchased the three principal shopping centres in Shrewsbury in 2018 to facilitate the economic growth and regeneration of Shrewsbury town centre. This is one of several investment and growth projects which are in the pipeline including a proposal to set up a local housing company to deliver affordable homes to address unmet housing need. The council is also investing in the health and social care estate and creating new community hubs.

"The council has set ambitious capital investment and income generation targets as part of the financial strategy. The objective being that £8m of additional revenue income will be achieved through investment and commercial activity in the period up to financial year 2022/23."