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Kent County Council is a significant force in the property
market of Kent, owning a large and complex portfolio of 1,200
properties with an existing use value of £1.4bn and annual running
costs of over £40m. 
The portfolio includes several hundred schools, libraries, care
homes, highways land etc, as well as an office estate comprising
over half-a-million square feet of mixed tenure accommodation in 28
buildings throughout the county.
Property
Group sits within the Chief Executive's department and is
responsible for the efficient management of KCC's property assets
across Kent and for delivering an extensive range of property
related professional services.
Property Group created the Property Enterprise Fund in 2006 as
an acquisitions and investment vehicle designed to facilitate the
switching of under-performing property assets into better
performing, wealth creating property assets. This will follow best
asset management principles, optimising revenue expenditure on
property.
The current principal focus is on identifying and disposing of
land and property assets that the council no longer needs for
efficient operational purposes. The proceeds are transferred into
the Property Enterprise Fund.
The ambitious target is to achieve £40m in capital receipts from
sales of under-used and surplus property assets over the next two
to three years. To date, in this financial year, 72 pieces of land
and property have been sold to a value of £6,116,998. The total
receipts since the establishment of the fund are almost £10
million.
Reinvestment has been made in turn in the Thanet Relief Road and
the purchase of Manston Business Park.
In June 2006, the county council acquired 27 hectares of land at
Manston Park, Thanet, also known as the Kent International Business
Park, from the administrators of Planestation plc. This action
reflected the opportunities which the site offers in terms of
regeneration and economic return on KCC's investment as well as the
significant public sector investment in establishing the site in
the past decade.
Manston Park was the largest of three sites identified in the
mid 1990s as having a key role to play in addressing the economic
development and employment issues prevalent in Thanet.
KCC took the opportunity to enter into a joint venture vehicle
with Thanet District Council to take advantage of significant
opportunities in terms of regenerating Thanet and demonstrating the
Kent Commitment, bearing fruit and enhanced two-tier working in
practice. |