INDEPENDENT councillors Graham Gowland (Lymm South) and Stuart Mann (Burtonwood and Winwick) have today thanked Warrington Worldwide for its reporting on the critical state of Warrington Borough Council’s finances.
The councillors said the two reports published by Gary Skentelbery on 27 and 28 July laid bare the full scale of the council’s financial crisis.
Cllr Gowland said: “Warrington Worldwide has done what the council’s own communications have failed to do – told residents the truth.
“A £94.757 million overspend on a £214.263m operating budget is not a minor variance. It is a systematic financial failure. When you need £87.029m of Exceptional Financial Support just to keep the lights on, plus £7.728m from reserves, and that emergency borrowing will then cost £8.703m every year in interest and debt repayment, you are not managing, you are surviving.
“Your reporting that six years of accounts – from 2019/20 to 2024/25 – are still awaiting external sign-off is damning. Six years without a true and fair opinion. Add in the council’s own admission that the 2025/26 draft has now missed its statutory deadline, and Moody’s withdrawing our credit rating because accounts cannot be audited, and you see why Government had to send in Envoys.
“The detail you uncovered on the asset fire-sale is shocking. Selling a Sainsbury’s site for £33.727m to pay down debt is one thing, but using £3.977m of capital receipts – money from selling land and property – to pay for redundancy packages, with zero pounds spent on actual transformation, shows how desperate the cash position is.”
Cllr Mann said:”At scrutiny, the report asked us to ‘consider the three outturn reports and make any comments as necessary’. That is not good enough. Not after a £26.364m overspend in Adult Social Care, a £19.050m overspend in corporate finance because the Box+II fund sale was delayed, a £42m MRP audit shock, and an £11m failure to deliver savings, including £5m from Birchwood Park that never happened.
“Time Square cost £151.167m and is now valued at £24.650m. It costs £5m a year just to carry, with £8.866m in borrowing costs last year alone. Together Energy lost £3.668m. Children’s Services overspent by £2.192m because we don’t have our own placements. SEND transport blew by £1.310m and we spent £11.356m on independent school places against a £5.796m allocation.
“Residents need to understand: every pound now spent on debt interest is a pound not spent on roads, parks, libraries or vulnerable people. And as we warned in our budget amendments, parish councils will be asked to raise precepts to cover services – making residents pay twice.”
Both councillors called for Scrutiny to make formal recommendations to Cabinet:
1. More frequent, independent financial scrutiny with equitable proportionality for opposition groups 2. A public, monthly financial recovery dashboard 3. Full transparency over the entire commercial investment programme and its true ongoing cost 4. Regular reporting on repayment of the £87.029m Exceptional Financial Support 5. A published lessons-learned review covering governance, decision-making and audit failure 6. A clear plan to clear the six-year audit backlog without reliance on disclaimed opinions
Cllr Gowland added: “I left the Liberal Democrats after almost 30 years because they would not properly challenge Labour’s last budget. I am now Independent and working from India this week. India’s Central Government runs a 4.4% deficit and targets debt of 55% of GDP on a declining path. Warrington’s debt is £1.8bn – 4.8 times its annual service spend. If India ran its finances like Warrington, its debt would be 480% of GDP.
“For years we have argued for committees that actually manage. Under Labour’s decades of control, we have had committees that just receive reports. There is no one else to blame.”
Cllr Mann added: “Warrington Worldwide has been attempting to meet the Chief Executive and the Government Envoys without success. That is telling. If Envoys are only answerable to a Government minister and not to residents, how does that restore confidence?
“Accountability must always remain an option. To those who signed off the borrowing, the investments and the fantasy budgets that have left Warrington in this position – you know who you are. You have had decades in charge. The honourable thing now is to acknowledge the damage done, take responsibility and step aside.”
In response, Warrington Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for finance, assets and investments, Cllr Denis Matthews, said: “Warrington continues to operate in an extremely challenging financial environment. We are working closely with Government-appointed Envoys, external auditors and other partners to strengthen governance, improve financial management and deliver a comprehensive programme of financial recovery and transformation.
“The audit backlog is a national issue affecting many local authorities, and we are taking firm action on this. We have a robust plan and ringfenced resource in place and we are working to an agreed timetable with our auditors, Deloitte. Any concerns around delivery and timescales are detailed in the publicly available reports of our audit and corporate governance committee, to which our external auditors are invited.
“We have been very transparent in our reporting as we continue to take action to reduce our debt, improve our financial position and ensure that public resources are focused on delivering essential services for residents. We remain focused on delivering our improvement and recovery plans, supporting residents who rely on council services, and securing a financially sustainable future for the borough.”
