A cut-price deal during the pandemic has resulted in 128 council homes being built.

Kent-based entrepreneur Peter Waddell - best known as the founder of the Big Motoring World used car supermarket chain, acquired the former dairy site in Dover in 2020.

The land, between Poulton Close and Barwick Road, had already got outline planning permission for housing but had been repossessed from the original developer and put up for sale under the auctioneer’s hammer.

Explained the businessman: “Covid caused panic in the property sector, so nobody was buying, but I saw the potential of this seven-acre plot, directly opposite my Big Offices site, and made a cheeky bid of less than £800,000 - it would have been worth £2m or £3m before the pandemic.”

But instead of looking to cash in with swanky executive homes, he’s aiming to ease the homelessness crisis.

“The council needs homes – there are so many people struggling,” said Mr Waddell, who grew up in a Scottish care home and is dyslexic and partially deaf.

“I know what it’s like to be homeless. So, if I can do something to help, why wouldn’t I, especially when I acquired this site for a keen price?”

Construction is due to start this summer, the latest in a long line of strategic property investments for Mr Waddell, whose portfolio is concentrated in his adopted county of Kent, Chelsea and Bristol - mixing residential, commercial, industrial, car dealerships, warehouses, and offices.

“We never set out to buy just one type of property,” he explained. “It’s about spotting opportunities and making them work.”

A key asset in the portfolio is Big Motoring World, but he is currently involved in a High Court action with a company, which bought shares in the car supermarket and forced Waddell to stand down as CEO.

He retains a £286m 65% holding in Big Motoring World, which employs 1,400 people in Kent through major dealerships at Blue Bell Hill and West Malling, plus the group after-sales centre at Snodland and the Gillingham HQ.

“When you include suppliers, transport workers, and other partners, Big Motoring World is responsible for nearly 2,000 local jobs,” added Mr Waddell. “That’s about £130m feeding back into the Kent economy.”

But Mr Waddell also has a £200m ‘war chest’ earmarked to double his current Kent property portfolio, lately gaining a £12m luxury apartment complex created from an ugly former tax office in St George’s Place, Canterbury.

In addition, he is hunting a headquarters site near Maidstone for his newly created Big Transport haulage firm, aiming to grow it into “the next Eddie Stobart”.