Brentwood Borough Council to loan up to £100m for regeneration

Brentwood Borough Council would loan individual projects between £1m and £20m

A council plans to loan up to £100m to developers in a bid to regenerate the area.

Brentwood Borough Council said it would loan individual projects between £1m and £20m.

The council would borrow the money at low interest rates from the government or other local authorities.

Council leader Chris Hossack said he hoped the funds would transform "scruffy land" into "something meaningful" that generates income.

The authority said that once a project was identified, a full assessment of the financial opportunity would be done, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council hopes the regeneration fund will enable development which would otherwise take longer to materialise.

The authority's aim is to "support local private sector regeneration activity through loans to support small and medium-sized enterprises that cannot, for whatever reason, obtain mainstream borrowing".

'Making profit'

A committee meeting heard there will be a return on the investment the council makes but the main aim was the benefits to the local area rather than financial gain.

Liberal Democrat councillor Sarah Cloke said she had concerns profits were driving the plans.

"I do suspect that's the underlying driver - not that making profits is a bad thing, we have to bridge our financial gap," she said.

"But I do not like this misrepresentation and the continuous trying to sell forward the idea that we're only doing this for the good of the people."

Council leader and Conservative councillor Chris Hossack said: "When you have a dormant piece of scruffy land, whatever that might be - that might be a focus of anti-social behaviour.

"Dead, non-regenerate areas earn nothing, they actually cost us money."

Mr Hossack said the fund would "improve the area" and also boost the income to the council through tax.