Councils are increasingly eying up shopping centres is a potential purchase.

So far this year,Woking have bought Wolsey Place mall, Lewisham have acquired the Catford shopping centre and Basingstoke & Deane council have snapped up The Malls

Here, three retail property experts tell Public Property UK at a BCSC event in London last month that councils buying up shopping centres is a good thing for industry, the public sector, and communities.

• Basingstoke reveals new plans for The Malls
• Basingstoke & Deane council buys The Malls
• Why we bought Woking’s Wolsey Place
• Blog: Departments should think of buying, not selling
• Business centres tell councils: work with us