Development debts prompt DLUHC intervention at council

By Jim Dunton2023-05-30T06:00:00

Source: Google Maps

Woking’s £1.9bn regeneration schemes make it UK’s ‘most indebted local authority’ in proportion to its size

Ministers have appointed commissioners to help a Surrey council figure out a long-term financial plan after two major regeneration schemes left it in a financially precarious position.

Woking Borough Council’s Victoria Place and Sheerwater regeneration schemes have saddled the authority with a combined £1.9bn debt, while further capital-financing requirements push the authority’s total debt figure up to £2.4bn.

A just-published review, commissioned by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said the annual cost of financing the debt was £62m – in contrast to the authority’s annual budget of £24m. It said the situation made Woking “the most indebted local authority relative to its size in the UK”.

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