Cambridgeshire: Councils have £1.33bn of debt in total

Cambridgeshire County Council carries the most debt of the seven councils that serve residents in the county with a figure it says is £475.4m.  

This is followed by Peterborough City Council which has its debt documented as £390.5m and Cambridge City Council’s is £213.6m.  

Of the district councils, South Cambs District Council figure is recorded as £205.1m, Huntingdon District Council’s is shown as £34.3m and Fenland District Council’s £7.8m.  

HDC disputes the figures and says it is not in £34m of debt.

"The Treasury report published for Q2 showed that the council was in fact in an investing position of £35.2m," HDC says.

“HDC has taken on loans in past years to fund the purchase of investments. As of March 2023, HDC held Investment Properties with a value of £70.9m," said – Cllr Brett Mickelburgh, executive councillor for finance & resources.

"These properties generate a positive return to the council to benefit its Revenue Budget, which enabled it last year to set a budget which was balanced, did not spend reserves and, importantly, protected frontline services.

"All this at a time of decreasing government funding, rising costs and inflation, and greater pressure on our services.

“We made some difficult decisions over the last year to ensure that Huntingdonshire’s future is financially stable and that we can deliver on the things that matter most to people.

"Unlike other councils, this approach means we have protected against service cuts. As more and more councils across the country are facing financial difficultly, we are delivering on our promise of long-term financial sustainability, protecting against frontline services cuts and, unlike some councils, not calling on the use of our reserves.

“We believe in the protection of services for our most vulnerable people, so individuals or families avoid falling into crisis. We can achieve this through our continued approaches built on prevention and early intervention, such as the new Council Tax Support Scheme.”

East Cambridgeshire District Council is one of just 38 councils which have managed to keep the books balanced out of the 380 analysed.  

Cambridgeshire County Council has the most debt of the seven councils that serve the county's residents with a figure it says is £475.4m. (Image: Jonathan Brady / PA Wire / PA Images)In response, a Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: “Like many councils, we have powers to support the financing of capital projects such as the building of new roads, schools, and more recently our investments in our local renewable energy assets.  

“Cambridgeshire is a fast-growing county and we have needed to proactively invest in infrastructure to ensure we can meet residents needs as well as stimulating further economic growth.    

“The council’s capital borrowing is in accordance with the local government prudential framework, annual payments are made to reduce our debt and our cost of capital borrowing is considered with our size and total expenditure – our annual expenditure exceeds £1bn.   

“Cambridgeshire County Council is in the fortunate position to have a number of valuable assets supported by capital investment, including both rural and commercial properties such as our farm estates.” 

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The figures were obtained from the government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for a national investigation of council finances by the BBC Shared Data Unit.  

It was found local councils owe a total of £97.6bn, which accounts for 80 per cent of the total amassed debt by local authorities in the UK.  

This is equivalent to an average debt of £1,141 per resident as of September 2023.  

District councils offer services such as bin collections. (Image: Newsquest)Both Cambridge City Council and South Cambs District Council explained their figures are not a true representation of their finances and stem from when they retained their council housing stock.  

A Cambridge City Council spokesperson said: “All the debt was taken out in 2012 when the council was required by government to buy itself out of the housing subsidy system.  

“The debt is fully supported by income from the council's housing stock. Furthermore, the value of the housing stock as at March 31 2023 is over 3.5 times the level of debt.  

“Despite the financial pressures that councils across the county are facing, we would like to reassure Cambridge residents that the council’s financial situation remains sound.”  

Cllr Anna Bailey, leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said it is “proud” to be the “only district or upper tier authority in the country” not to have increased council tax over the last decade.  

She explained this has been possible because in 2016 it launched the East Cambs Trading Company which runs initiatives including Ely Markets and Palace Green Homes that build new affordable homes.  

Cllr Anna Bailey is the leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council. (Image: ECDC)Cllr Bailey said: “Together they’ve benefited the council by £4.2m, helping us keep costs low and affordable for residents.  

“This means East Cambs is unusual for having a balanced budget for the next two years.  

“We also have a healthy 10 per cent of our budget in a general reserve and unlike other councils we have no external borrowing therefore we do not have to pay interest charges.”   

Peterborough City Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and Fenland District Council were also approached for comment.