Council to write off £4m in debt

Lincolnshire County Council looks set to pay off more than £4m worth of debt owed by the company that originally set up the University of Lincoln.

The council loaned about £10m to the University Project Company 10 years ago to make the campus a reality.

But nearly £3m of this and £1.5m owed by the building developers - plus interest - is outstanding.

If the proposal goes ahead, the council will get the company's assets and income, including some freeholds.

Support 'repaid'

County council leader Martin Hill said: ""The debt was already written off in our accounts a long time ago - so it is an accounting exercise and it will not effect tax bills."

"We will not get the money back but this is something we have been aware of for a long time.

"We are getting the assets of the company which include some bits of land that are being rented back to the university - along with several hundred thousand pounds in cash."

Director of Resources, Pete Moore, said: "The early establishment of the university was a necessarily complex arrangement."

A council spokesman said its financial support to the university has already been repaid many times over in the benefits it has brought to the whole county.

The proposals will be discussed at a meeting of the council's Executive Committee on 6 June.