Buckinghamshire Council's £289m debt not abnormal says leader

Martin Tett said the local authority inherited debt from the five previous "legacy councils"

The leader of a council which has accrued £289m worth of debt has insisted it is still "prudently run".

Conservative Martin Tett, of Buckinghamshire Council, said the figure was not "outside of normal financial management" for an organisation of its size.

Last week, the council revealed tax bills would increase by 5% in April.

Several former district councils were amalgamated to create Buckinghamshire Council in 2020.

"I appreciate that this figure of course seems high but for an organisation of our size, this isn't outside of normal financial management," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"It also has to be viewed in the context that we are a recently formed new authority that inherited the debt of five legacy councils."

He also said the debt was forecast to decrease by more than £3m by the end of the financial year.

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The debt was analysed by the BBC Shared Data Unit, which looked at 380 UK local authorities and extracted figures from the borrowing and investment live tables published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The council has found itself under significant pressure with demands and costs for its core services increasing.

"I've made no secret of the fact that we are facing significant budgetary pressures, but this is not related to our debt level - servicing the debt makes up a fraction of our budget," he added.

Mr Tett said the council had been independently audited by a statutory external auditor who "has not highlighted any concerns".

"We therefore remain a prudently run council that can service this debt well within our budgets and unlike any other councils, are in a position to produce a financial plan that balances our books until 2027."