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25
Jan
‘A failed experiment’: Opposition councillors raise concerns over housing company loans
Opposition councillors have raised serious concerns after North Yorkshire Council approved further funding for its loss-making housing company.
Brierley Homes, which was founded in 2017, is part of the Brierley Group of 12 companies owned by the council.
The company, which oversees housing developments in the county, has come in for criticism from councillors for being reliant on council loans to help its cashflow issues.
The latest decision has seen the council give Brierley Homes £400,000 from a £27 million loan facility, which was approved in September last year.
Conservative council leader, Cllr Carl Les, has previously refused to rule out further support for the company as it would be “unwise” and would “not be prudent”.
But, Cllr Steve Shaw-Wright, leader of the Labour group on the council, said it was time for the council to end was he described as a failed experiment at the company.
He said:
We have serious concerns that the Brierley Homes experiment, because it is an experiment, has obviously failed. The company appear to be concentrating on high end homes, where we believe that what’s required are council or social houses.
Cllr Shaw-Wright added:
It’s clear that the council needs to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough, and concentrate on providing quality services and stop playing at being a property developer.
The move comes as Brierley Homes, which reported a £3.2 million loss last year, has come under scrutiny from councillors over its reliance on council loans.
In September last year, senior councillors backed a proposal to increase a £25 million council loan facility to £27 million to provide Brierley Homes with further financial headroom.
Mr Fielding said at the September meeting that he would receive weekly cashflow reports from the company as part of “additional due diligence”.
He said the weekly reports would “ensure there is stronger due diligence” into the firm.
Around £1 million of the loan facility approved in September remains available following the latest drawn down in funding.
Council officials said the move will help the company make payments to suppliers while it awaits delayed sales to come through.
Meanwhile, in July 2025, the council also granted a £1.4 million loan to the housing company to assist it with cashflow while it delivered affordable housing and to "allow the company time for sales to be received”.
Cllr Andy Brown.
Cllr Andy Brown, a Green Party councillor, said he remained concern over the funding given to Brierley Homes.
In November, he told Cllr Les that members of the council were “nervous" over the increasing financial support for the firm.
Cllr Brown told the Stray Ferret that the council could “ill-afford” any errors in the management of funding to the housing company.
He said:
Building new affordable housing is very much the right thing to do but the Greens remain concerned that a lot of money is at risk here, and the Council can ill-afford any errors in the management of it.
The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire Council if it was confident that Brierley Homes was improving its cash flow position and if it anticipated providing any more financial support to the company.
However, we were directed to decision notice which the council published on the loan draw down.
The notice said.
Further loan draw down from the existing facility of £400k is required in order to allow the company time for sales to be received and therefore this loan draw down will ensure Brierley Homes can make all payments due in the event of some delayed sales.
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