BCP Council finances at centre of further disagreement

Remarks by the former Conservative leader of the council over actions that had been taken sparked a strong rebuttal from the chief finance officer.

Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, July 26, Cllr Philip Broadhead said the model used to fund urban regeneration company BCP FuturePlaces was changed “at the large insistence” of director of finance Adam Richens when the Tory group was running the council.

However, before Cllr Broadhead had finished speaking, Mr Richens asked to address the matter.

The senior officer said: “That is not true. I did not request a change to that model.

"The administration at the time required officers to look at alternative financing of BCP FuturePlaces because they didn’t want the revenue cost hitting the revenue account, so I do not believe that statement to be true.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Broadhead repeatedly probed cabinet members on the surplus the council delivered in 2022/23.

A report to cabinet said this figure was £10.6m “as well as providing a degree of mitigation for a number of emerging risks such the working capital loan facility advanced to BCP FuturePlaces Ltd”.

Cllr Philip Broadhead (Image: BCP Council)

Cllr Broadhead said some money was used for the children’s services transformation programme, adding “so it is pretty clear the surplus we had wasn’t £10.6m, it was more than that”.

He said setting £4m aside to cover the FuturePlaces loan was a “political choice”.

Interjecting again, Mr Richens said: “To be clear it wasn’t a political choice with regards to providing and setting aside resources in regards to BCP FuturePlaces.

“That was a section 151 officer call and the reason I had to call that is that clearly there were liabilities in regards to the fact that BCP FuturePlaces had drawn down significant amounts of the loan that we had actually advanced to them and actually there were a number of business cases that went to cabinet and council for approval in March which got deferred into the new administration for their consideration.”

Mr Richens said he made the decision reflecting on the liabilities the council was facing at the time on March 31 and he made a “judgement call” on what would be “prudent”.

Cllr Broadhead went on to say: “If FuturePlaces gets on and delivers, you have got £4m extra to play with.”

The Three Towns Alliance administration has removed all unidentified savings in the 2023/24 budget, which it inherited from the previous Conservative-led council.

This decision meant the funding gap for the financial year currently stands at £44.4m.

Cllr Broadhead said: “Just to arbitrarily delete savings to create a bigger gap to make the Tories look bad is fine if it is true, but what you are then saying is you don’t have faith in your transformation team."

Council leader Cllr Vikki Slade replied: “I think the idea of trying to make the Tories look bad is funny in itself but the reality is every one of those transformation savings was unidentified.

Cllr Vikki Slade (Image: Freelance)

"If every penny is unidentified, it doesn’t exist and therefore this is about being open, honest and transparent.

“Until we can identify what those savings are it will be completely irresponsible to put them into any budget. If I can’t identify how I am going to pay my bills then I can’t pay my bills.”

Portfolio holder for finance Cllr Mike Cox said: “I agree with Cllr Broadhead. It is a choice. It is a choice that we make and the choice we have made is to be prudent and the choice that they made was to be reckless and that is the difference between our two administrations.

“I would honestly and heartfully actually say to him please reflect on your administration because when you are in a hole you need to stop digging and today’s performance you have kept digging and for your own sake, for your own political future that needs to stop.”

Giving his assessment on the current financial position, Cllr Cox said: “The current trajectory is completely unsustainable. Without a significant dose of realism and old-fashioned professional scepticy you will be headed to the financial rocks.

“Turning a ship the size of BCP around will not be easy and I believe the course we have now set will start to repair the damage and steer us to calmer waters.”