Council paying £22.8m a year in loan interest

MORE than £65 million borrowed by Devon County Council still has 34 years left before it needs to be paid off.

- by BRADLEY GERRARD Local Democracy Reporter

It means five loans taken out for 60 years in 1999 are still costing the authority more than £3m in annual interest payments.

Data seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service shows the council has a total of nearly £458m in borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB), which costs it £22.8m in interest payments per year.

Other loans take the total even higher, to nearly £508m in borrowing with annual interest payments of more than £25.5m.

Borrowing by UK councils stood at £144 billion in December 2024, according to government figures.

In the 20 years to 2009, the Liberal Democrats held power in County Hall, apart from 2001-2005 where a Lib Dem-Conservative power-sharing agreement was struck. The Tories won in 2009 and held power going into the elections on Thursday, May 1.

Just five of the 46 outstanding PWLB loans were taken out during the period of power-sharing, while 17 were taken out between 2005-2009 when the Lib Dems were in power.