WARRINGTON Council’s Cabinet is seeking approval for an innovative, green project to give the public an opportunity to invest with the council, to develop a new solar farm.
The Cabinet will consider proposals at its meeting, on Wednesday, May 27, for the launch by the council of a new Community Municipal Bond (CMB) to help deliver the project.
The council’s solar farm plans have been in development since 2018, as part of ongoing work to deliver a Green Energy Strategy and meet the aims of its climate emergency declaration. If the plans for the CMB are approved, the public will be able to be part of the project.
The power generated from the solar farm, in Cirencester, will be used to meet the council’s energy needs, with any surplus energy generated sold. In this way, it will support the council’s aims of:
• tackling the climate emergency and becoming carbon neutral by 2030
• generating an income for the council to help protect essential service
• engendering collaborative working with residents on the green agenda
A CMB is a bond issued by a local authority directly to the public via an internet-based crowdfunding platform. By investing as little as £5, investors will be able to support an important project for Warrington’s future and receive a long term, low risk return.
The plans form part of a nationwide pilot exploring using CMBs to fund infrastructure for local authorities, and would see the council issuing a CMB to fund up to £10m of the Cirencester project. The bond would be issued to residents and investors from across the country to receive a percentage return on their capital for the investment.
It is expected to be launched in the coming weeks, as lockdown restrictions are eased.
The scheme would be administered by Abundance, who are a separate FCA registered company, on behalf of the Council.
Warrington Borough Council Leader, Cllr Russ Bowden, said: “We have recently seen much emphasis being put on the need for climate-friendly stimulus policies to reboot economies in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. In Warrington, we remain committed to delivering a carbon neutral future, while doing all we can to protect our vital services now and in the future.
“The proposed Community Municipal Bond scheme would allow people to invest directly with us to help build a greener and more prosperous future for the borough. As such, it would give residents and community groups a fantastic opportunity to make a sound, social investment, while supporting our work to address the climate change emergency we all face.”
The plans are the latest part of the council’s ongoing programme to mitigate climate change and carbon emissions, generate a financial return for the council, create employment opportunities and reduce fuel poverty. Other successful council projects in recent years include the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) on 3,000 Golden Gates properties, developing investments in solar bonds that other councils have invested in, and acquiring solar farms in York and Hull.
While the bonds would be targeted at people living within the Warrington region, they would also be available to people living across the UK. CMBs are built to prioritise individual investment but are compatible with the requirements of institutional investors such as pension funds.
Abundance is an FCA regulated investment platform founded in 2012 with a mission to help turn members of the public into real stakeholders in things they care about, and allowing anybody to invest as little as £5.
In 2016, Abundance launched the first Local Authority Green ISA bond with Swindon Borough Council, which funded two 5 Mw solar parks with the participation of more than 1,600 investors.
Abundance have carried out consultation with Warrington residents who were all very supportive of the bond issue, which allows local and UK residents to invest in positive, green investments that are secure and low risk, paying a competitive rate of interest.
For more information on the Community Municipal investment, and to sign up to receive email updates, please visit abundanceinvestment.com/warrington
Last year Warrington Borough Council became the first council to produce all its own electricity.
8 Comments
Where to start with this?
WBC is a council, not an investment bank. This is a bizarre turn of events from a council with a recent history of bizarre developments.
This investment opportunity is being touted as a Good Thing, because it’s green. Well, that’s grand, and I’d normally be interested in any such investment, but . . . WBC have already invested my money, on a large scale, in a series of investments but without providing me with any detail.
How’s the Redwood Bank investment going, Russ? We’re in this one to the tune of £30 million. Have we lost all that money yet? Made a profit? Will we ever see a profit?
How about Together Energy? This is another one where we’re not allowed to know what’s being done with our money. Our chief executive, Steven Broomhead, sits on the board of Together Energy – but hasn’t yet shared any information with the people of the town.
Given Russ Bowden’s policy of never sharing any information with the people of this town, I won’t be gambling my hard-earned money on this opportunity. I already paid – something like a billion pounds, between us (though we don’t know the actual figure because, you know, why would WBC share information with its investors?)
I Think The People of Warrington have Never even Heard of this Abundance Scheme. Russ Bowden & Co ARE wasting Hard Working Tax Paying Peoples Money on what sounds like Get Rich Scemes !! i.e. Russ Bowden & Co. getting Rich at Tax Payers Ezxpense !! WHO on earth allowed this Man from Bury onto Warrington Council should be Sacked along with Bowden and his other Cronies.
It sounds to me that WBC is running scared and running out of options. Its somewhat dubious portfolio of investments is about to crash and burn, and it is desperately scrambling around for other schemes.
Anybody who invested in a scheme Russ and crew were involved with would need their head examined.
They’ve yet to explain fully their other cowboy investments, and their worth (or not)
So warrington council tax payers have already paid millions into this scheme if other investors invest into it does that mean 1Our share in the scheme will be less and 2 will the bond investors get the returns before our council do?Finaly we council tax payers having paid the start up costs etc and taken all the risk have to give away some of its earning if it is making a good return as Big Russ states does the profit have to be given away unless contrary to what Big Russ says it’s actually hemorging money so needs a cash injection?
This looks like a new scheme rather than one of the existing ones, Disgruntled.
This really has got to be a joke!
I’m curious about this statement: “Abundance have carried out consultation with Warrington residents who were all very supportive of the bond issue”.
Gary, could you ask Abundance for their data on this? How many people were consulted, what was the process, how did they achieve a representative sample, etc. I’m not suggesting that it was anything less than rigorous – but could we check?
Until we the council taxpayers are honestly and openly provided with the full detail of expenditure and calendar dated returns this administration’s current investments will produce, all made without prior consultation with us, no further investments should be made by this council. Which in any event is only in power because of the corona virus situation. There is little doubt had Council elections actually taken place at the prescribed time, this administration would not have remained in power because of its questionable and less than transparent investment record. Moreover, there is still the outstanding matter of two unsigned off council annual accounts to be resolved. That said and in view of Russ Bowden’s recent plea for greater government financial intervention, this proposal for yet more investment is totally unacceptable..