🚨 £48.754 million more borrowing for RBWM 🚨
The government has given the Royal Borough permission to borrow £48.754 million next year to help plug a budget gap of around £49 to £50 million.
This is not a grant ❌
It is not extra money being given to us.
It is permission to borrow or sell assets to make the numbers add up.
At the same time, council tax is going up by 7.5% this April 📈
In 2026/27, this borrowing makes up just over 27% of the council’s yearly budget. That means more than a quarter of next year’s spending is being balanced through borrowing or asset sales.
And that is not the end of it.
In 2026/27 alone, the council is expected to spend £13.451 million on interest payments. That is over 7% of the entire budget before a single front line service is delivered. 💷
In simple terms:
💷 Residents are paying more.
📊 The council is borrowing more.
⚠️ The cost of debt is rising.
Borrowing to cover day to day spending pushes the problem into the future. It increases long term debt and means more money goes on interest instead of services.
Arguing about who set council tax levels years ago does not fix the problem we face now.
Whatever happened in the past, the responsibility today is to deal with the situation openly and properly. Relying on borrowing and selling assets to cover everyday costs cannot be the long term answer.
Hoping that government funding changes will sort everything out is not a plan either. The council’s own figures show debt interest rising sharply over the next few years, with borrowing increasing by hundreds of millions. Funding reform may help, but we also need tighter control of spending, full transparency and better decisions locally.
When a council is borrowing tens of millions and putting up council tax, decisions should not just be waved through. They should be properly checked, debated and clearly explained. Residents deserve to know that every pound is being carefully looked at and properly justified.
So it is fair for residents to ask:
• How will this debt actually be paid back?
• What council assets might be sold? 🏢
• How many more years of above inflation council tax rises are coming?
Many people are already feeling the pressure. Families are stretched. Residents deserve honesty about how serious the situation is and a clear, realistic plan to put the borough’s finances back on track.
We will continue to press for fairer government funding, because councils across the country are under strain. But we also have to make responsible choices locally.
Residents cannot keep paying more while debt keeps rising and neighbourhood services continue to shrink.
