A flagship £100m Local Government Association scheme,
designed to give smaller local authorities the opportunity to borrow
collectively to build housing, has been wound down. LG Develop, which planned
to pool local authorities’ borrowing powers and was intended to offer them
better rates than borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board, will no longer
continue after councils deemed it too risky. The group was set up by the LGA,
working with debt advisory firm Centrus, to allow councils to spread costs and
risks, and to access finance in larger tranches, lowering borrowing costs. Six
councils were signed up to use LG Develop to court institutional debt to build
around 2,400 new homes. Read more on Inside Housing.
