Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
Wealth fund backs social housing retrofit loans
03/03/2025 The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has announced plans to guarantee £250m of loans to housing associations to support the retrofitting of social housing. |
Brighton to take on £51m debt from i360 tower
27/01/2025 Brighton and Hove City Council has agreed to take on £51m of debt from the i360 tower after the firm behind the attraction went into administration. |
UK Infrastructure Bank agrees £17m loan for council’s net zero projects
14/08/2024 The UK Infrastructure Bank has announced a £17m loan facility to West Suffolk Council to deliver a programme of net zero projects. |
Isle of Wight debt accounts for 42% of annual budget
30/01/2024 Isle of Wight Council has insisted it borrows to invest in essential projects after revealing its debt amounts to 42% of the authority’s annual budget. |
Plymouth reaches impasse with auditor
30/08/2023 Auditors could issue a qualified opinion on Plymouth City Council’s accounts after questioning its methods to pay off a multi-million pound pension deficit. |
Coventry City Council £1m loan at risk after culture trust goes bust
01/03/2023 A trust set up to promote culture in Coventry after the city's year as City of Culture in 2021 has gone into administration putting a £1m council loan at risk. |
Woking Borough Council warns of possible S114
22/02/2023 Woking Borough Council has warned that it is ‘in the territory’ of effective bankruptcy as it struggles with over £2bn of debt. |
Brighton grapples with £44m 'high risk' loan
10/02/2023 Brighton & Hove City Council will have to put aside millions of pounds every year to cover a £44m loan labelled ‘high risk’ by auditors. |
MPs warn of ‘eye-watering’ levels of fraud in COVID scheme
27/04/2022 The Government is ‘complacent’ about preventing ‘eye-watering’ levels of fraud in the COVID Bounceback Loan Scheme (CBLS), new report by the PAC concludes. |
London borough settles LOBO loan dispute
21/02/2022 Newham Council has reached a multimillion pound deal with Barclays Bank to settle its long-running Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBO) loan dispute. |
Liverpool Council refinances £65m LOBO loan
02/12/2021 Liverpool City Council has completed a debt refinancing deal in a move that will save £15.8m. |
Developers offered loans to build new schools
10/10/2019 Housing developers will be given loans from the Government to build new schools before new properties are finished. |
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Government announces £155m of loans to build housing
25/06/2019 Loans worth £155m have been announced to create 660 new homes in Wimbledon and Southampton. |
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Councils urged to work with credit unions to prevent homelessness
17/06/2019 Councils could save millions of pounds by partnering with credit unions to offer interest free loans to families at risk of eviction, a new study has found. |
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Council to save £143m after ending LOBO loan
07/05/2019 Newham Council is set to £143m after successfully terminating its Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBO) loans with NatWest bank. |
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Whitehall lends partnership over £7m for Birmingham development
21/03/2019 The Government has agreed to a £7.45m loan in order to kick start the development of a brownfield site in Birmingham city centre. |
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Leicestershire CC recovers £5m loan from struggling Northants
03/01/2019 Leicestershire County Council has recovered its £5m loan to cash-strapped Northamptonshire after concerns the latter would not be able to repay the money. |
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Councils could save £16bn by refinancing LOBO loans, research finds
29/11/2018 Councils are failing to save £16bn by not replacing their expensive LOBO loans with ones from the Government, new research has warned. |
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Kent CC pays back LOBO loan early
02/11/2018 Kent County Council has reached an agreement with Royal Bank of Scotland to pay back its LOBO loan debt early. |
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Kensington and Chelsea credit union ‘goes bust’
10/10/2018 A credit union in Kensington and Chelsea which included several former residents of Grenfell Tower has gone bust. |
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Council takes football club to court over £80,000 loan disagreement
07/09/2018 A council has launched legal action against a football club over money for a new stand which it says should have been repaid. |
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Council to approve accounts after LOBO loan delay
24/08/2018 Lancashire County Council’s accounts are set to be approved after a temporary delay caused by a complex £50m loan deal. |
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Councils sue Barclays over controversial LOBO loans
16/07/2018 Barclays are being sued by 14 local authorities over allegations it committed fraud over loans to councils. |
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i360 asks to delay loan repayments to council
07/06/2018 The i360, Brighton’s seafront observation tower, has asked Brighton & Hove City Council if it can reduce its loan repayments. |
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Homes England loans £22.4m to build Cambridge homes
01/06/2018 The Government today announced a new multi-million pound deal that will deliver 1,300 homes for Cambridge. |
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Blackpool considers lending £27.1m to NHS Trust
16/05/2018 Blackpool Council has proposed loaning a local NHS trust over £27m to help the health body invest in frontline services. |
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Campaigners call for inquiry into councils' 'toxic' loans
25/09/2017 Residents have raised objections against risky high-interest loans in 46 local authorities, campaigners have revealed. |
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Council in row with cancer drugs firm
26/05/2017 Liverpool City Council has appointed administrators to a pharmaceutical company which was loaned £2m by the authority. |
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Council to save £94m after axing high interest loans
28/02/2017 Newham Council has struck a deal to scrap its lender option borrower option (LOBO) loans and switch to normal fixed rate borrowing in a move that will save up to £94m. |
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Audit of Northampton Town loan to be revealed by council
18/11/2016 Northampton BC has announced that it will receive a report from auditors PWC into a loan to Northampton Town Football Club at a special meeting next Monday. |
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Councils should provide alternative to payday lenders
12/09/2016 Local authorities should provide alternatives to payday lenders through credit unions, according to a new report. |
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Barclays first bank to scrap LOBO loans
01/09/2016 Barclays has become the first bank to scrap high interest Lender Option, Borrower Option (LOBO) loans for councils. |
