A district council is planning to invest £56m in commercial property outside its boundaries this year, funded through borrowing from other local authorities.
Local authorities in England borrowed £856m from the Public Works Loan Board last month, as councils refocus on capital projects following a lull due to Covid-19.
Woking Borough Council will borrow an additional £130m to cover increased costs resulting from Covid-19 and Brexit on a flagship mixed-use regeneration project.
The number of loans taken from the Public Works Loan Board fell in January, with one treasury adviser saying Covid-19 payments from government could have weakened borrowing demand.
The amount of money owed by local authorities to the Public Works Loan Board fell for the first time in almost four years during the second quarter of 2020-21.
Councils borrowed £875m for housing projects in March from the Public Works Loan Board after the introduction of a special rate for housing revenue account projects in the Budget.
With significant and unexpected swings in cashflow, a reduction in loan margins would make all the difference for councils, argues local authority treasury adviser Arlingclose's strategic director...
The Treasury has written to local authority finance officers to confirm a new discount rate for borrowing for housing spending from the Public Works Loan Board.
CIPFA’s chief executive warns that government proposals to restrict council investment in commercial property could signal a more prescriptive approach.
The government has announced plans to cut the Public Works Loan Board interest rate - but only after it has introduced measures to ban councils borrowing to invest in commercial property.
The Municipal Bonds Agency today issued its inaugural bond at a rate of just over 1% - significantly beating the cost of borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board.