Councillors Investigate Housing Loans Approved Under Burnham
Greater Manchester’s scrutiny committee is examining a fund that has lent more than £1bn to about 50 developers since 2015, including roughly £55m to three companies controlled by Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owner. Those loans were approved in 2017 at two meetings chaired by Andy Burnham as mayor. The chairman, John Leech, wants “a transparent rather than an opaque process”.
The combined authority says the decisions were taken publicly by all its members, that the money was lent “at commercial rates”, that it delivered 11,000 homes and that “every penny loaned from the fund is being fully repaid”; Manchester Life says its loans were repaid with interest. Mr Leech’s question is whether a fund meant to unlock “currently unfundable” projects should have gone to well-capitalised borrowers. The timing is awkward for the prime minister: he has asked for a “manual trawl” of his past contacts with the club after records of two dinners with its chairman disappeared from the authority’s website. The Conservatives say he has “serious questions to answer”; Downing Street did not comment.