Council pauses failed regeneration project

Woking Borough Council has banned new spending due to its high levels of debt

A “failed” regeneration project by a council facing massive debts will be paused until further notice.

Woking Borough Council was working with ThamesWey to regenerate Sheerwater by building over 1,000 new homes.

In June, the authority issued a section 114 notice, effectively banning new spending, as its debts were forecast to hit £2.6bn.

The council said it would look for external partners, such as housing associations, to take on any further development projects in the town.

Councillor Will Forster said the borough was forced to introduce the measures as part of its bankruptcy-enforced spending freeze but pledged to work with the community to see the project over the line.

He said: “There is so much anger in the Sheerwater community towards this council.

"We have failed that community. We have not taken them with us on that Sheerwater regeneration. The scheme felt like it was done to them, not for them.”

In 2018, Woking Borough Council began to move residents out of Sheerwater as it began to demolish about 500 homes and build 1,142 new properties with improved infrastructure.

It was to be delivered over nine years by council-run ThamesWey, on the back of cash from the Public Works Loans Board.

In the aftermath of the council’s financial meltdown, it emerged its company was £185m in debt, with a peak debt at the end of the regeneration project expected to climb to £361m.

Completing the work already started, the council was told, would already require an additional £80m in borrowing.

The borough is presenting a case to government that it is better value for money to build the homes rather than have them unfinished and empty.

How the project moves forward will be decided in the autumn, pending a review and resident consultation.

Possible ideas include refurbishing homes rather than demolishing them to make way for new houses.