PWLB chairman, LAs pay down debt, Hull HRA investment, Glasgow TIF, Scottish Futures Trust

PWLB to replace chairman in June
The Public Loan Works Board is set to appoint a new chairman at its annual meeting in June. Previous chairman Tony Caplin resigned last week after it emerged that he had been declared bankrupt. A source at the PWLB told Room151 that preparations were being made to appoint a successor at the June meeting.

Councils increase debt repayment
Local authorities repaid £3.3 billion of debt during 2013/14, according to statistics released by the Office for National Statistics. The figure represented a rise of 157 per cent on the previous year’s repayment of £1.284 billion. The figure for 2012/13 followed more than £8 billion of net borrowing by councils during the previous year.

Hull invests HRA cash in homes projects
Hull City Council has allocated almost £75 million from its housing revenue account to help build more than 3,500 new homes, including 500 to be owned by itself. The cash will also provide insulation on a further 3,000 existing homes, and structural improvements to another 300 homes. The council said that the cash would help housing associations deliver ambitious regeneration programmes agreed before cuts to public funding which started in 2010.

Glasgow TIF delayed by a year
Glasgow City Council has signed a conditional development and funding agreement with developer Buchanan Partnership on its tax incremental finance scheme. The Buchanan Quarter project is an £80 million redevelopment of the existing Buchanan Galleries shopping centre, paid for by borrowing against resulting increases in business rates. A report to Glasgow Council said that the development timetable has slipped by a year due to aligning the project with improvements to the nearby Queen Street rail station.

Regeneration body to develop new funding models
Regeneration funding body Scottish Futures Trust is to develop new approaches to support infrastructure investment to stimulate economic growth and regeneration. The trust currently oversees the tax incremental finance programme north of the border, along with other investment models. In its annual report, it said that it would work with the Scottish Government and Cities Alliance to work on new funding models.

City deal bids wrapped up in growth deal process
Unresolved applications for city deals will be now be considered as part of growth deal proposals put forward by local enterprise partnerships. A report from the Local Government Association’s transport board said that the government had clarified the status of applications for city deal status which have not yet been granted.