Government inspection of council finances extended

The council has debts of more than £1bn

A government inspection of a Surrey council's finances has been extended into 2025.

The Best Value inspection was started at Spelthorne Borough Council in May, when the authority's "extremely high" levels of debt and borrowing were highlighted.

Spelthorne, with debt of more than £1bn in March 2023, had the second highest level of debt for a district council in England, according to a government letter.

The inspection is looking at specific areas where there are "concerns" including governance, controlling debt levels and reducing them over time, and the "prudence of financial decision making".

A BBC report in January showed Spelthorne's borrowing was the second largest in the country with average debts of £10,415 per person.

It is one of three councils in the country to have an inspection currently underway, the other two being London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Warrington Borough Council.

In August, the inspection report was extended until the end of November.

The council borrowed to make investments in property between 2016 and 2018 to offset the loss of government funding, and previously said its debt was sustainable with income generated by the assets "comfortably exceeding" the financing cost of the debt.