"Keeping hold of its council homes" is the reason for a £205m debt amassed by South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC), according to a spokesperson.

The total amount of debt owed by each of the UK's local authorities has been revealed by the BBC today (Tuesday, January 16), with South Cambridgeshire seeing a total debt of £205,123,000.

This equals a debt per person of £1,258, with 163,002 people living in the South Cambridgeshire area.

A spokesperson for SCDC explained that the debt was due to loans taken out in 2011 and 2012 to ensure that the local authority remained responsible for its council homes, rather than transferring them to social housing providers as other councils have.

SCDC is responsible for approximately 5,500 homes in the area.

"Councils like us, that chose to retain their council homes, had to take on an allocation of housing debt from Government in order to do so," the spokesperson said.

"Those loans have varying maturity dates, with the first £5 million due to be repaid in 2037 and the last in 2057.

"Each and every council across the country with council homes will have this type of historic debt."

SCDC’s lead cabinet member for finance, Cllr John Williams, added: "The council’s budget is in a healthy position with a well-managed plan for limited borrowing where necessary.

"The Oflog figures on debt are very misleading as it includes £205 million of housing debt the council had to take on 12 years ago when the Government changed their national scheme.

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"This debt sits solely in our housing account and is separate from the funding we use to deliver all other services.

 “Rather than us in effect leasing 5,500 council homes from the Government and paying a good chunk of the rent over to them each year, we now own the homes and have a mortgage on them that the rent collected is used to pay.”

Royston Crow: Cllr John Williams, of South Cambridgeshire District Council.Cllr John Williams, of South Cambridgeshire District Council. (Image: SCDC)