At Telford & Wrekin’s full Council on the 3rd March Cllr Dugmore said “Cllr Davies has hung a noose of generational debt around the necks of all Telford & Wrekin residents. His reckless spending has seen this Council borrow hundreds of millions of pounds. His planned debts will rise to an unprecedented £563m by 2026, which is over £7,000 for every home in the Borough.”
Cllr Dugmore followed this up by saying “Cllr Davies’ reckless spending plans are simply unsustainable. He has no clear plan to repay this debt and he is putting our residents and their families on the hook for all of his borrowing. Of course it won’t be a problem for him, because he will be long gone before we even get the chance to pay it back.
Cllr Adrian Lawrence, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group, followed this up by saying “I cannot understand why Cllr Shaun Davies would allow our debt to spiral out of control. He has been leader of Telford & Wrekin Council for many years now. This mountain of debt is his responsibility. These liabilities are simply irresponsible. Cllr Davies is risking future private investment into our borough, with all his reckless borrowing plans. Our grandchildren will be paying this debt off for decades to come.”
“Cllr Davies should be known as Shaun of the Debt, he has chosen to burden us all, nodded through by his Labour colleagues. I am not sure what is worse, the fact that they are borrowing so much of this money on an interest only basis, or that they have no plan to pay it back”.
The figures were revealed by a FOI request by Telford & Wrekin Conservatives, and budget report published by Telford & Wrekin Council.