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A borough council has spent £1.9m buying a small industrial estate as part of its latest plans to boost business in the town.
Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) snapped up 16 units that make up the Wren Estate, in Coldred Road, within the wider Parkwood Industrial Estate.
The 0.37 hectare site was bought at auction following an emergency meeting of the policy and resources committee.
Members met in secret to discuss the acquisition to avoid disclosing their strategy to potential competitors.
Council leader Martin Cox, who chairs the committee, said members voted overwhelmingly in favour.
He told the Kent Messenger: “We see this as a way to help and support the local economy and to continue to either create jobs or support the jobs for the smaller businesses that are in Maidstone.
“We want everybody to consider Maidstone to be the business capital of Kent and this will help us do that.
“Developing businesses need places to grow into and we know the Wren Industrial Estate will be a good stepping stone for them. It’s limitless what they can offer.
“It can be difficult for some businesses who want to sign up to a long tenancy with a private landlord because there is no wiggle room.
“We hope we will be a better, more understanding landlord.”
Most of the mixed size units, some around 400 sq ft, are already occupied with only three vacant.
Businesses already on site are encouraged to stay.
Cllr Cox hopes the investment will also contribute to the borough’s revenue.
He added: “Because of Covid-19 everyone has been at home, people haven’t been using facilities and therefore our income stream has been affected but we couldn’t plug the hole by upping taxes for everyone in the town, we have to work out better ways to do it.
“But this is not a Covid knee jerk reaction, we need to plan for the future.
“Even without the crisis it’s likely we would have gone for this opportunity because it’s a great investment and a great way to support businesses in Maidstone.
“Sometimes people decide to sell their property out of the blue and when this one came up, we looked at all the details and made the decision.”
“I know we got it for the right price,” he added.
