A SURVEY by YouGov has revealed that people overwhelmingly believe councils should provide greater transparency on property investments.

But work by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism shows that Herefordshire is one of the few councils who have made no further investment in fixed assets over the past four accounting years.

Government figures show that Herefordshire Council has spent nothing during the last five financial years on adding to its land and buildings assets.

And, during the last four years, there have been only six examples of outlay which have attracted the bureau's attention.

In 2014/5, land at 5 Station Approach in the city was purchased for £136,000 under a compulsory purchase order, which also saw £565,000 spent on buying land at 137, 145 and 151 Widemarsh Street.

In the same year, £7,500 was spent on land in Jays Lane, Leintwardine for highway improvement.

In the following financial year, Herefordshire Council spent £1.75m buying land and buildings at Three Elms Industrial Estate from the Homes and Communities Agency.

And a further £125,000 was spent on land and buildings at Overross Farm House in Ross-on-Wye.

The other instance occurred during the 2016/17 financial year when the council spent £1,095,500 on land for the new Colwall Primary School at Mill Lane in Colwall.

Figures also reveal that the council's total usable reserve is projected to increase by 10.18% from 2016 to the end of the financial year 2018/19.

The figures show that the council's net current expenditure for the current financial is expected to be £281,369,000 while the council's total borrowing as a percentage of net current expenditure is 47.90%.