Local Taxpayers To Be Kept in the Dark Over Council’s Housing Purchase

teessidetoday
Dec 4, 2025
5 min read

Locals will never be told how much the purchase of nine new council homes will cost them, despite taxpayers picking up the bill for it...

Hartlepool Borough Council to Expand it's Housing Stock by Nine Additional Homes – But Local taxpayers to be Left in the Dark as to the True Cost....

4th December 2025

Hartlepool Borough Council is set to formally approved the purchase of nine new-build houses from the Housing Developer Persimmon Homes on what's known as the South West Extension development. The plans, which are set to go before Hartlepool Borough Council's full meeting on the 11th December 2025 are being framed as a way to boost the council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) stock, & are said to be funded through what the council claims is 'prudential borrowing' – borrowing that is ultimately underwritten by the public. Yet its claimed crucial financial details, including how much this borrowing will cost local taxpayers, has been deliberately withheld from public view.

According to the council agenda papers, the Finance and Corporate Affairs Committee signed off the acquisition in principle on the 24th November 2025, before sending the decision to Full Council for final approval of the borrowing requirements. Full Council will then be asked to formally approve the borrowing at its meeting on 11th December 2025.

What the Council Is Buying

The deal involves the purchase of Four 2-bedroom homes & Five 3-bedroom homes

All nine units will be located in small clusters throughout Persimmon’s wider private housing site, and will be built to nationally described space standards (NDSS).

Improvements over Persimmon’s standard affordable-spec design have also been agreed, with the additional costs factored into the business case.

Construction of the homes is scheduled to begin in early 2026. The homes are to be transferred to the Council on a so-called “golden brick” basis, meaning Persimmon must construct each dwelling to the point where the walls have been built above the damp-proof course before the transfer occurs. This arrangement reportedly reduces stamp duty fees, as confirmed in the committee report..

Why the Council Says It Needs the Homes

The Council claims the acquisition is necessary to increase the supply of Council-owned affordable rented housing, as well as strengthening the financial resilience of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The move will also reportedly help meet strong local demand for modern 2- and 3-bedroom affordable homes. However there's claims that demand for homes in Hartlepool is being 'overexaggerated' following the bombshell report exposing the fundamental flaws with Hartlepool Borough Council's choice based lettings scheme Hartlepool Homesearch, as published by the Teesside & Durham Post earlier this year.

The Key Issue: The Cost Is to be Hidden from the Public

While the Council is using what they call 'prudential borrowing' (public-sector borrowing backed by future Council resources, and ultimately taxpayers), the actual financial details – including the purchase price, total borrowing required, repayment projections, interest implications, and long-term cost to the HRA – are all completely redacted, meaning local tax payers will likely never know just how much Hartlepool Borough Council is set to buy the homes for, despite the local tax payer underwriting the loans through their Council Tax.

The financial details have been declared exempt under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, classifying the information as relating to the “financial or business affairs of any particular person”

This means Local taxpayers are funding the borrowing, But are not allowed to know how large the borrowing is, How much the homes cost, How much interest the Council will pay for each unit, Or what the total 30–40 year financial commitment looks like.

“Business Case” Also Hidden from Residents

The Councils Finance and Corporate Affairs Committee approved a “full business case” supporting the acquisition of the homes despite claims previously from the councils finance chiefs that Hartlepool Borough Councils Housing Revenue Account was generating mere 'modest' profits, but its now understood that all financial modelling, risk assessments, and options appraisal have been locked away in everywhere but the councils secretive 'pink papers', meaning the public cannot see whether any alternative options were considered, Whether the purchase represents value for money, Whether the Council compared Persimmon’s price to actual market values, & Whether building its own homes would have been cheaper.

Despite this, the Committee recommended the scheme go to Full Council, with the reports seen by the Teesside & Durham Post revealing that councillors are to be told to approve the borrowing, despite members of the public not being able to see what the actual cost will be to the public purse.

What We Do Know About the Borrowing

The public documents do reveal that:

The scheme relies entirely on prudential borrowing, funded through the HRA.
If rental income projections fail over time, the HRA – and potentially the General Fund – will be left having to absorb the loss.
Prudential borrowing is long-term debt, typically repaid over 25–40 years.
Approval of the borrowing is the only reason the item had to go to Full Council.

In short, the Council is using public debt, yet refuses to disclose the actual cost to the public.

Though the costs are concealed, the purchased don't come without their risks, according to the report itself there's concerns that there's potential financial risks due to possible construction delays. The possibility of later Right-to-Buy applications, Risks tied to voids and bad debt & Financial risk ultimately sitting within the councils Housing Revenue Account, which isn't generating the income many had hoped it would by the council managing its own housing stock...

Once again, A Woeful Lack of Transparency from Hartlepool Borough Council

While the Council is eager to highlight the benefits of adding nine homes to its stock, it is equally determined to keep the financial details confidential via any means possible.

And this raises a fundamental question:

How can residents judge whether the Council is spending their money wisely if the Council insists on hiding the price tag?

With rampant concerns about local overspending, financial mismanagement, and reliance on borrowing across multiple Council projects, the refusal to disclose even basic information about this scheme will not reassure Council Tax payers & only deepens the mistrust in one of Teesside's most dysfunctional institutions. .

If Hartlepool Borough Council is confident that this acquisition provides value for money, it should have no issue publishing the financial details. Until then, taxpayers are simply being asked to trust that this deal benefits them—without any evidence allowed into the public domain.

What do you think ?

Should Hartlepool Borough Council reveal how much its paying for Nine New Homes ?