City council's borrowing skyrockets to £702m

PLYMOUTH City Council's borrowing has hit a record £702 million, newly released figures show.

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A council document revealed how borrowing has skyrocketed during the past two decades from just £70m in 2006 to more than 10 times that in the year to the end of March this year.

The figures also show that most of the cash comes in long-term borrowing from the Government's Public Works Loan Board, rising from £46m in 2007 to the past year’s £550.5m, another record.

The council was actually cutting the amount borrowed from the PWLB between 2011 and 2021, with the amount shrinking from £61m to £40m. But it has skyrocketed during the past four years with insiders saying that the council has sought to convert expensive short term debt into long-term borrowing.