THE latest property purchase by South Somerset District Council has taken its recent commercial spending over the £50million mark.

The Glastonbury B&Q store is SSDC’s 11th unit, and takes the total expenditure to £53.395million.

An overall sum of £75million had been allocated to carry out the investment strategy, which was created to fund several regeneration projects along with other public services.

Finance is provided through reserves and internal borrowing - a process through which the local authority can borrow from itself and charge itself interest.

The most expensive investment so far was a battery storage facility near Taunton, which cost £9.84m.

This facility allows the council to store power and sell it back to the National Grid at peak times.

While some investments were in Yeovil, Taunton, Glastonbury and Bridgwater, there have also been a number further afield.

They include GoCompare’s Newport HQ, a business unit near Bournemouth, and an office block in Milton Keynes.