Northern Irish Local Council Owes Nearly £50m

An overall debt of nearly £50m has earned Newtownabbey the dubious title of being the most indebted Northern Irish Council.

It owes just short of £46,837,000 in government loans, more than seven Northern Irish councils combined.

And it is nearly £10m further in the red than South Down, the next most indebted council.

The sky-high figures were revealed in a release of written answers to questions asked of Assembly ministers at Stormont, and were reported by the Ballyclare Gazette.

It is understood part of the sky-high sum is due to the council borrowing millions of pounds to finance the restoration of council headquarters at Mossley Mill and creation of the Theatre at the Mill.

The news could be even worse for rate payers as Newtownabbey is due to merge with Antrim Borough Council under plans forwarded by the Review of Public Administration - meaning locals may be shouldered with a combined debt of just under £66 million given Antrim's debt of almost £20 million.

In response to a previous revelation of the amount of debt owed by Newtownabbey Borough Council, councillor and DUP MLA Paula Bradley said the council had enough in reserves and assets to off-set the debt.

Just one of Northern Ireland's 26 local authorities has no debt - the one in the black is Magherafelt District Council.

(NE)