Council secures £3m in long-term property lease

Coventry Building Society are the existing tenants of Oakfield House, in Binley Business Park

A city council is set to receive £3 million for a long-term lease of a property.

Coventry City Council agreed the 123-year-lease for the office building, situated on Binley Business Park, to Coventry Building Society at a full council meeting on Tuesday.

The building society, who are the existing tenants of Oakfield House, said the agreement represented the best value for the city in monetary terms, as well as supporting a local business.

Councillor Jim Boyle said the lease will allow the banking firm to make improvements to the building by decarbonising it, making it a "win-win".

He said: "Coventry Building Society is a great Coventry business employing some 2,000 people in the city, and it is very important that we retain businesses like this.

"The lease will mean that they can make improvements to the building by decarbonising [it] and reducing their footprint and, by definition, Coventry's carbon footprint as well, so it is win-win both economically and environmentally."

Prior to the meeting, a spokesman for CBS said: "Our Binley campus in our home city is of strategic importance to us and investing for the long-term makes good business sense."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.