Tories fear council's gross debt will pass the £2 billion mark in 2023

OPPOSITION Tories on Warrington Borough Council fear the Labour-controlled council’s gross debt will pass the £2 billion mark in 2023.

According to Warrington Borough Council’s own figures, gross debt was already above £1.8 billion at the end of September 2022, although the council says this is secured on bricks and mortar with a value of £2.3bn

With more controversial investments already in the pipeline, WBC Conservative Councillors fear that the council’s debt will exceed £2 billion in 2023 unless the council “finally sees sense” and starts to divest itself of some of its many poorly-performing investments.

The External Auditor has already warned the council that its borrowings are unsustainable. Tory councillors say this has “sadly fallen on deaf ears”.

They say a debt of £2 billion would equate to approximately £10,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in Warrington.
Now the Conservative Group is again calling for the Labour-led council to make a New Year’s Resolution to review its asset portfolio and dispose of its many poorly-performing assets to reduce the council’s high risk debt levels.

Cllr. Ken Critchley, the Conservative Finance Spokesman, commented: “By any standards, £2 billion of debt is an enormous risk for the people of Warrington.”
“The Labour leadership’s attempts to block the verification of the detail of the claimed financial returns should start alarm bells ringing for everyone; what are they trying to hide?”
“The failure of Together Energy; the failing Redwood Bank investment; the incredibly low net return from Birchwood Business Park; the recent revelations in the Financial Times about the circumstances surrounding the granting of the Council’s largest loan; and the highly questionable accounting practices that we have challenged repeatedly all add up to a Labour leadership that is not listening to common sense and is seriously out of its depth.
“As interest rates continue to rise in the UK and across the world, it’s time to call a halt and reverse the high-risk, high-debt, low-return strategy of Warrington’s Labour Group. This is now urgent, before the astronomically high borrowings put the people of Warrington, now and in the future, in an even more perilous financial position”.

Warrington Borough Council and Deputy Labour Leader Cllr. Cathy Mitchell said: “All the investments are performing well and are secured on bricks and mortar with a value of £2.3bn, which Cllr Critchley somehow fails to mention. The investments work for the good of the community and also provide an income which pays for important services, such as adult social care and safeguarding children. That is what 70% of our income is spent on. Our budget for services is around the £150m per year mark.

“In 2010, when costs were lower and demand was lower, the government contributed £70m per year to that budget; now it’s just over £1m per year. Our investment contributed £23m towards paying for services last year. We could sell our investments off and pay back all the borrowing, but could not, by law, use the money from the sale to pay for services and we would lose the income they generate. What services would the local Conservatives cut? Children’s services? Bin collections? Adult social care? Road repairs? Libraries? No doubt they will set out clearly their plans by putting forward an alternative budget, I’m sure they level with the public. Perhaps the conservatives would also like to justify government borrowing which is now at an all-time national high. The national borrowing debt is above the 100% of national income to pay for it. This is impacting on rising tax levels and also inflation.”