Council challenged over unpaid £6m market redevelopment loan

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

A council has been urged to take action to recover a £6 million loan after the money failed to be repaid by its agreed deadline.

The funding was provided by Newport City Council to help redevelop Newport Market, with the loan originally due to be repaid in February.

The local authority also agreed a deal with the developer to receive a share of the market’s profits, under a 250-year lease for the city-centre attraction.

Speaking in the council chamber on Tuesday July 21, Cllr Matthew Evans, who leads the Conservatives in opposition, said the loan was “taxpayers’ money and they deserve to be told what has happened to it”.

“So can you confirm the exact amount of money outstanding, and what action you’ve taken to ensure we get our money back in full?” he asked the local authority’s leader.

In response, Cllr Dimitri Batrouni – who leads the council – said “the loan, which remains at £6 million plus interest, has not yet been repaid”.

The developer is engaged with the council,” he added. “I’ll continue to engage with our officers to discuss with the provider about the repayment and loan and the interest.”

Cllr Batrouni added it was “quite right” to note the loan is “taxpayers’ money”, but said he was “surprised” the Tory leader “doesn’t think commercial sensitivities exist”.

“I presume that if the Conservatives try to take over the administration, his message to the businesses who try to deal with this council is ‘we don’t believe in commercial sensitivity.’”

The opposition leader said his Tory group had raised concerns about the market deal when it was first announced.

Cllr Evans said the council had “months to consider… what action needs to be taken before the February deadline”, and claimed £6 million could have funded other projects such as business rates relief or free parking initiatives.

“Are you going to apologise to the residents and repossess the market?” he asked the leader.

Cllr Batrouni alleged there would be “no Newport market” redevelopment under a Conservative-run council he claimed doesn’t “believe in commercial sensitivity”.

“There’s no commercial operator that doesn’t operate with commercial sensitivities,” he told the chamber. “It’s not unique to Newport – every local authority has to have that engagement with private business, and certain information has to be confidential – that is basic.”

The leader claimed Cllr Evans’ “clear message to business” would be “if I am in charge, I’ll tell everyone all the commercial business”.

“Therefore, there would be no more Newport Market.”

Transparency 

Cllr Evans insisted “this money should have been paid back, by the very latest, [in] February”.

“At the moment we’re standing here at the end of July. We have £6 million pounds overdue. This is not commercial sensitivity. This is about transparency and us getting our money back.”

Loft Co, which runs the market, was contacted for comment.

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