Recent income from sales means a North Yorkshire Council-owned house builder should not need to borrow more taxpayers’ money, a senior councillor has told colleagues.
Leader of the council, Councillor Carl Les, told a meeting of the authority’s full council that Brierley Homes currently had a positive bank balance.
The company’s financial issues have prompted concern among opposition councillors who have questioned why large sums have been loaned to the company by the council.
The council chief was today asked for assurances by Green Party councillor Andy Brown that no further loans or other funding would be provided by the authority.
In response, Cllr Les told the meeting that Brierley Homes had a commercial loan facility from the council of £27m, after a further £2m headroom loan was authorised in September.
Of this funding, £1.55m remained available to be drawn down by the company.
Cllr Les added:
“Since the additional loan was approved by executive, I’m pleased to inform councillors that since that time in July, £3.8m worth of sales income has been received by Brierley Holmes and as of the October 31, the bank balance stood at £513,000, with sales income of just over £1m forecast for the end of this month.”
Cllr Les said the housing sector remained challenging and it would take time for the company to be profitable.
However, he added:
“Actions are ongoing to implement the recommendations of the review that we commissioned recently and was reported to the executive on September 16, and current projections do not indicate the need for any further loan to be drawn down.
“There can never be a 100 per cent guarantee on what will happen in the future.”
Cllr Les added that the company’s financial position was monitored closely by the Brierley Homes board, by council officers working on behalf of the council and by the shareholder committee, which he chaired.
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