Council requests emergency government loan

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

A council has said it has asked the government for emergency financial support (EFS) after discovering unbudgeted costs from previous years.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead said the revelation had further undermined its "well-documented... difficult financial position".

Councillor Lynne Jones, in charge of finance, said internal audits had revealed an "unbelievable backlog of accounting queries".

The authority has requested Exceptional Financial Support, a government loan which is usually paid back through asset sales.

Councillor Lynne Jones said the authority had suffered from "12 years of neglect"

Ms Jones told her cabinet colleagues on Wednesday: "It has been massively frustrating that the financial processes we inherited were not robust.

"We are fighting against 12 years of neglect."

She said the accounting errors were "of a magnitude that throw the opening reserves balance of £10m into question".

The Independent councillor also blamed pressures from government underfunding, higher inflation and previous council tax reductions.

The council was paying more than £13m a year in interest on its £200m debt, she added.

Cabinet members were told that 19 councils had so far been granted EFS for this year's budgets.

At the same meeting, the council agreed to begin marketing properties it owns on Reform Road in Maidenhead to raise £10m.

The Liberal Democrats took control of the authority from the Conservatives in the 2023 local elections.

Former Conservative council leader Andrew Johnson, who is now a Tory parliamentary candidate in Cumbria, has been approached for comment.

Conservative councillor Sayonara Luxton declined to make any statement.