Causeway Coast and Glens Council says 'close financial monitoring' helped reduce inherited borrowings by £20m

The Council said: "The Annual Statement of Accounts, which were presented to the Council at a meeting on September 25, showed that Council’s borrowings improved significantly from £61.345m to £56.476m for the year ended March 31, 2023.

"In fact, in the current financial year this has improved even further to £52.1m – representing an overall £20m reduction on the inherited position of £72.8m, which Council received from the four legacy councils when they were merged in 2015. When compared to the ten other Councils across Northern Ireland, three currently hold a higher level of loans than Causeway Coast and Glens.”

Causeway Coast and Glens Council was formed of four legacy councils – Coleraine, Ballymoney, Limavady and Moyle councils.

A Council spokesperson said the significant reduction in borrowings has been achieved as a result of close financial monitoring of the capital spend and expenditure limits imposed by the Council on its formation in 2015, in an effort to keep the cost of servicing its loans under control.

Welcoming the announcement, Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens, Councillor Steven Callaghan said: “At an early stage, this Council recognised that the level of inherited borrowings was unsustainable and put in place strict financial limits and monitoring. It is very encouraging to see that the controls put in place have allowed us to make significant strides in reducing the loan amount.

“Council will continue to scrutinise our capital expenditure to ensure that the level of borrowings remains under control.”