COUNCIL BACKS £337,000 LOAN FOR NEW STADIUM

15 July 2005

Councillors have agreed to pour more money into Swansea's new stadium - but they insist that council taxpayers will not be out of pocket. An extra £337,000 is being loaned to the Stadium Management Company to help complete work on the showpiece stadium in Morfa which is due to open on July 23.

It comes just four months after members agreed to a deal to provide an extra £2 million towards the total cost of £27 million.

Cabinet members are adamant that the money will be paid back after agreeing to the move yesterday - but they are refusing to say how the money will be underwritten.The decision could now end up on the desk of the district auditor.

Deputy chief executive Bob Carter said today that the cash could come from grants and Assembly funds if the management company defaulted on the loan.

He said: "It is not as straightforward as to say that it will be left to council taxpayers to pick up the bill.

"The council is funded by a number of sources such as through the Assembly.

"At the moment the authority is satisfied the Stadium Management Company is a going concern.

"Its business plan indicates that it is in a position to meet the cost of this loan.

"If the event arises where it has to default, that is an issue which will need to be considered as it arises."

Councillor John Newbury, cabinet member for finance, told council colleagues that the money would help improve the finished product.

He said: "This money is needed so that the company can complete the stadium to a world-class standard.

"What is already obvious is that these facilities will prove to be quite a pull.

"The extra money will come at no cost to us as a council."

But the decision to splash out extra money on the stadium has been condemned by opposition leader David Phillips.

The Labour councillor said his group was considering taking the matter to the district auditor.

He said: "I am seriously concerned about this. There have been insufficient safeguards put in place for the spending of public money.

"If this goes wrong, the only consequence is that the council tax will go up to pay for it."