RESIDENTS have been told the council does not have money 'hidden away' after it approved an £85 million loan arrangement with a housing provider.

The executive board approved the council entering into a maximum £85 million, seven-year loan facility with Citystyle Living Limited, a subsidiary of One Housing Group, in order to generate income for the authority at its meeting on Monday.

It will be funded from the current three-year capital programme, which was agreed by the full council in February.

One Housing Group is a London-based housing provider, with around 15,000 properties over 27 London boroughs and the surrounding area.

It is London's largest provider of housing to residents with complex needs.

Deputy council leader Cllr Russ Bowden, who is the executive board member for corporate finance, said: "This is a well-trodden path for the council, in terms of arranging these loan facilities and how they are managed and reviewed through the treasury management board, but also through the council's own corporate governance procedures to ensure, obviously, that they are delivering and working in a way they are expected to.

"This will add to what is already a significant portfolio and I don't think we should really underestimate what the financial benefits mean to the council from the series of loan facilities that we have made.

"That is income of around £3 million a year from the whole of the portfolio, which otherwise would just manifest itself through more cuts."

Citystyle Living Limited says it is only the first step of a competitive procurement process involving a number of shortlisted lenders.

It added that it will only borrow the authority's funds if Warrington becomes its preferred lender.

Some of the financial details and the risk assessments surrounding the arrangement were discussed in part two in private.

Cllr Dan Price, executive board member for culture and partnerships, said: "A lot of the public do get confused by some of the investments we have made and local government finance isn't necessarily the easiest thing for people to get their head around.

"This isn't money that is hidden away – this is money that we borrow against business plans that predict surpluses and those surpluses run frontline services.

"We borrow this money, we invest it prudently and we reinvest those surpluses into frontline services."

Cllr Hans Mundry, executive board member for highways, transportation and public realm, believes decisions, including the £85 million loan arrangement, will save jobs and frontline services.

He added: "It is not the traditional work that the council would normally be doing some years ago but it is an essential part of the future of how the council operates in today's climate.

"Finding ways of getting revenue income for local authorities is an important way of moving forward."