The need for BCP Council to borrow money from government is expected to be avoided, according to the councillor responsible for finance.

This week the local authority said that the final decision on if a capitalisation direction is required would not be known until work on the end-of-year accounts was closed down.

Cllr Mike Greene, portfolio holder for finance, said the statement given to the Daily Echo “may not have had up to date information” so it could have been “misleading”.

“It is true to say the financial outturn will not be finalised until May but we do have a lot of information,” Cllr Greene said.

“The current estimate is that the budget for the year ending March 31, 2023, looks as though it is going to produce a surplus of £11million. My expectation is it will be increased to £13m.”

As reported, BCP Council has sold assets including units on an industrial estate in recent months in an effort to make £18m so it can avoid borrowing money from the government for its transformation programme.

The financial issue came to light when ministers blocked the key budget plan to sell the local authority’s beach huts to a company that would have been wholly or majority owned by the council.

Cllr Greene said: “The sales receipts (from assets) were all received by March 31 and exceeded the required amount to fund the transformation programme without needing to go to borrow from government or anywhere else.

“There remains a question over a small deficit that comes from government underfunding of special educational needs which accumulated over years.

"Technically there could be a requirement for a small amount of borrowing from government to correct their underfunding, however, if the financial accounts come out as we expect then this will not be required.”

The senior Conservative councillor said the transformation programme has already delivered £50m of savings to council taxpayers. He said once complete it is expected to deliver £50m of recurring savings every year.