It will take Sefton Council 40 years to pay off a loan it took out to buy the Strand shopping centre.
The council bought the Strand shopping centre in Bootle in 2019 for £32.5m using money loaned from the Public Works Loan Board, which is run on behalf of the treasury.
In 2021 it was revealed the Strand had lost more than half its value and was worth just £14.2m.
READ MORE: Mum leaves behind five children after dying in fall down stairs
The Strand has also been losing money since before the pandemic, with the biggest losses so far of £3m in 2020.
Last year, the Strand lost £300k and the projected losses for this year are set to increase to £800k.
In a response by the leader of the council to a question tabled by Sefton conservative Cllr Sir Ron Watson ahead of a full council meeting held yesterday it was revealed that the loan taken out by Sefton Council to buy the strand will ultimately cost around £42.5m.
The council is paying back the loan over a 40-year period and will have to find £1.7m every year to service the debt.
Budget documents show the council is setting aside money for the Strand with nearly £680k to be spent on “Strand repurposing” with a further £375k to be spent on ‘Strand business plan.’
Cllr Watson asked if the council’s valuation was “up to date” or if the value of the Strand had been recently reevaluated, with a response by Cllr Maher that “this will take place as part of the council’s 2022/23 closure of accounts process with the figure included in the accounts”
He added this would be presented at a later date to the borough’s audit and governance committee for scrutiny.
The council has so far revealed little about its specific plans for the Strand, with Cllr Watson saying that the “secrecy” over it means “scrutiny is being heavily compromised by the fact that information is not available to anyone other than the cabinet members” and called on Cllr Maher to make more information available.
Cllr Maher said he had responded to Cllr Watson’s questions and “they are now in the public record.”
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