Opposite a portrait of Margaret Thatcher in the office of Ian Harvey, Conservative leader of Spelthorne council, stands a backdrop reading “Spelthorne means business”.
This is a common phrase, but in Spelthorne it can almost be taken literally. The borough council represents a clutch of leafy towns in south-east England with a population of about 100,000 — but it has also turned itself into what is in effect a commercial property company with a portfolio worth almost £1bn.
The local authority in Surrey has pioneered the large-scale use of cheap government-backed loans to buy real estate to generate rental income to offset austerity-driven cuts in funding.
