Council's borrowing 'could increase by £100m'

A senior officer at Dorset Council said its finances were better than others across England

Dorset Council's external borrowing could increase by £100m this financial year – equivalent to almost £2m a week.

The council is also eating into reserves and expects to take £60m out, with half of that to support its day-to-day spending.

An audit and governance committee was told that when the budget was set it forecast £225m of external borrowing by March 2025, but was now likely to reach £325m.

None of the figures are final and the forecast could turn out to be better than expected.

But that is dependent on capital programmes slipping, as some already have, which would push spending for them into the 2025/26 financial year.

Opposition Tory group leader Andrew Parry asked if the figures might end up being higher than the current projections.

Mr Parry and his group said council services should be transformed and money had been put into its budget for those changes when it was set in February.

But the Conservatives lost control to the Lib Dems in May's local elections.

Mr Parry also claimed an extra £100m in borrowing is likely to add £5m a year to the council's debt in interest payments.

Aidan Dunn, the council's executive director for corporate development, said the current financial climate meant tough times for local government.

"I'm nervous about the finances but I'm not waving a flag or making huge alert in that regard," he said.

"In the context of local government across the country we remain in a challenging place but we're not in the area of Croydon [council], or others, who have got themselves in financial difficulty.

"Dorset is not in a position of financial crisis in any way."

The council's finance portfolio holder Simon Clifford said there would be a review of all capital and revenue spending plans.

But he said many, such as a programme for reablement centres, were "invest to save" projects which would cut costs in the future.