The £1B-plus wave of local government investment in income-producing property has now washed up in Solihull. Or Wyre Forest. Or both.

Wyre Forest District Council, the local authority based in the Worcestershire town of Kidderminster, has acquired a 31K SF Solihull office block at Stratford Court, Cranmore Boulevard, for £6.1M.

Blue Marble Asset Management advised Wyre Forest.

The multi-let block comes with an expired planning consent to build two office buildings of 20K SF on adjacent development land.

Wyre Forest District Council made the purchase as part of its £25M plans to buy property with the aim of generating income to support local services. It is a long-term play for the council, with Blue Marble saying that in the long-term the office block could be suitable for other uses.

Wyre Forest are not the first local council to go into the property game in an investment sector conservatively estimated at £1B. Blue Marble are advising other local authority clients on similar deals.