Proposed £50m Northumberland County Council loan to Advance Northumberland despite £300m existing debt

The proposed council budget, which will be voted on by councillors next week, includes provision for Advance Northumberland to borrow up to £50 million from the council in the next few years. Advance already owes the council more than £300 million.

Cllr Georgina Hill, who represents the Berwick East ward, describes herself as a “long-term critic” of Advance and its predecessor, Arch. Arch was dissolved by the Conservative administration in 2018 following a string of controversies that included referrals made to Northumbria Police.

Cllr Hill said: “It is like the emperor’s new clothes. Very few of us within the council are prepared to call it as it is but the problem is obvious.

“Advance owes the council and Northumberland taxpayers over £300 million. That is a huge sum, especially when you put it in the context that £300m is more than the council now has in its reserves.

"It is also more than the annual budget for children, education, and young people.

“It is not even as if residents can walk around and be bowled over by the regeneration delivered by Advance, or the quality of their house building or project management skills.

"It is high time that the council addressed this and the denial and vested interests that allow it to continue unchecked.”

Cllr Richard Wearmouth, the council’s deputy leader, said the loan would cover the delivery of affordable homes in the county.

He said: “Loans in this year’s budget to Advance cover the delivery of affordable homes and other such schemes, which have a full business case and deliver on our key priorities for Northumberland.

“Cllr Hill makes some comments about not being bowled over by Advance Northumberland’s project management yet literally yards from her ward is the amazing Berwick Leisure Centre, complete with bowls facilities that are bowling over residents, which was designed and project managed by Advance.

“You do not need to take my word for it. Membership is up 75% and the building is praised for its stunning appearance and facilities.

"There are countless other such examples of Advance’s work.”

Cllr Wearmouth also criticised the previous Labour administration at County Hall, and blamed it for Advance’s debt.

He added: “Cllr Hill often votes alongside Labour on key council votes. It is those Labour politicians who left our regeneration company and this council with a £300m debt.

“Despite that Labour-inspired debt, Advance has never missed any loan payment and continues to deliver more affordable homes, inward investment, and business support across Northumberland.”

Responding to this, Northumberland Labour leader Scott Dickinson said blaming the Labour administration, which left office seven years ago, was “simply untrue.” He also highlighted that Labour left £199 million in the council’s general reserves fund, which had now fallen to £40 million, less than the proposed loan to Advance.

The full council meeting where the budget will be voted on takes place on Wednesday, February 21.