WARRINGTON Borough Council Deputy Leader Cathy Mitchell has defended the council’s investment portfolio, which has brought in a £25.3m surplus – against £1.7b of borrowing.
With assets of £2.3b, she says the council could “comfortably make back more than the cost of its borrowing.”
Last year Warrington Borough Council pulled in more than £25 million in surplus from its diverse investment portfolio spanning things like the regeneration of Time Square, distribution warehouses, solar farms, and loans to housing associations.
The council’s budget to pay for services is around £150 million a year, without the investments the council would have had to make further cuts to local services.
Warrington Borough Council invest in projects that support their policy objectives including supporting the most vulnerable, helping the council to be greener and cut emissions, building new homes and supporting the local economy
Cllr Mitchell says that since the Conservatives brought in austerity since 2010, Warrington Borough Council has lost more than £170 from its annual budget in funding and has been forced to make a further £20 million in cuts in this year’s budget.
The council has come under scrutiny for its level of borrowing currently standing at £1.7bn. However, with an asset value of £2.3bn if the council was to sell all its investments it would comfortably make back more than the cost of its borrowing.
The council is already working with the Department for Levelling Up to assess the council’s investment portfolio risk profile. DLUHC has stressed this is not a criticism of Warrington Borough Council. The council has said in its most recent investment performance review that “it welcomes the review”.
Cllr Mitchell said: “The Council can’t borrow money to fund public services, but we can borrow money to invest in projects that work towards a specific policy goal and generate a return on our investment.
“We invest in policies that help our community such as, helping us to be greener, helping us to build new homes and supporting our local economy.
“That is what Warrington has done, last year we made a surplus of over £20million. That’s after all the interest payments and costs have been made.
“That’s an extra £ 20 million we wouldn’t have if we hadn’t invested in our future.
“Our investments across Warrington and the wider North West region are delivering on our policy goals and are also protecting key front line services that our vulnerable residents rely on.
“It is simply wrong to say our investment portfolio is performing badly, we are making money from it and we are delivering on our policy objectives, it’s performing well.
“All of our investments must pass strict due diligence rules, just like buying a house we make sure to do all the appropriate checks before we exchange contracts”
