SEDGEMOOR District Council will be using a petrol station in Bristol to fund future public services.

Sedgemoor District Council recently completed its purchase of the Applegreen petrol station on Gloucester Road for £2.23m.

The council has invested £18m in commercial property to date, and could spent up to £50m in total depending on what comes on the market.

The return on these investments (in the form of rent) will be used to fund front-line services in light of grants from central government being reduced.

Cllr Mark Healey, portfolio holder for commercial and asset management, published details of the investment in a report which came before the full council on Wednesday afternoon (October 9).

He said in his report: “We have already invested nearly £16m acquiring two quite different retail investments.

“I am now pleased to say that our third acquisition – the Applegreen petrol filling station on Gloucester Road, Bristol – is complete.

“This will take the combined value of acquisitions to over £18m, with the combined rent of the three acquisitions being over £1.13m a year.”

The council previously purchased the Street Retail Park in December 2018 for £8.2m, and the TKMaxx store on Worcester High Street for £8.05m in the summer of 2019.

The petrol station on its own will provide an annual return of £133,165, the council has confirmed.