City council's borrowing is highest in the county

PLYMOUTH DEBT RISES BY £50M TO £702M

- By ALISON STEPHENSON Local Democracy Reporter

DEVON councils owe a whopping £1.9 billion pounds to lenders - with Plymouth topping the list.

Plymouth City Council’s borrowing totalled £702 million at the end of March 2025, an increase of more than £50m on the previous year.

Analysis of data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by the BBC shows the city lies 52nd out of 382 councils in terms of the highest debt. Birmingham is at the top with 3.5 billion.

Devon County Council - the largest council in Devon by population and area - came in as the second top borrower in the county owing £517m compared to £474 m in 2023/24 and is 78th on the list.

UK councils owe seven per cent more to lenders than they did a year ago - a total of £122.2 billion, the equivalent of £1,791 per resident, says the BBC Shared Data Unit.

The money, borrowed largely from an arm of the Treasury, has been used to buy hundreds of commercial assets from shopping centres, to office parks, cinemas, energy companies and housing developments all with the aim of returning a stream of income.

Many council leaders said they had no choice but to invest in order to fill the gap in income they used to receive from the government under the revenue support grant.

In recent years, various commentators have warned that the debts held by councils - which must balance their budgets every year - are unsustainable.