You asked
How much has each individual local/unitary authority spent (in pounds sterling) on commercial property purchases each year for the last ten years?
We said
Thank you for your request.
Unfortunately we do not hold information on local authority commercial property purchases, or use individual local authority data. However, some of the published administrative data we use include breakdowns at the local authority level. The Capital Payments and Receipts live table, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), records the acquisition of land and existing buildings as a specific category of capital expenditure, and it is here that commercial property purchases would be reported by each authority. The dataset is available at the local authority level back to 2017, although earlier data may be available on request.
The live table can be obtained at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-local-government-finance
The team in MHCLG responsible for the data collection and publication can be contacted at: CapitalData@communities.gov.uk
Please note that similar reporting is used for Scotland and Wales, published by the Scottish Government and Welsh Government respectively. Local authority returns for Northern Ireland are currently recorded by HM Treasury, and may be available on request.