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North Yorkshire Council's housebuilder needed £3.4m bailout

Summarised from 3 outlets · 4 reports · Updated 31 Oct, 18:19 · Archive

North Yorkshire Council's Brierley Homes received a £3.4m taxpayer bailout in 2025 to avoid administration and insolvency. The housebuilder, owned by the council, had forecast a £350,000 annual profit when the two loans were approved in July and September 2025. However, the company subsequently made a £7.8m loss in 2025/26.

Council leader Carl Les said the loans were necessary to provide the company with sufficient working capital and cash flow to operate. Without them, he wrote, the company would not have been able to cover its outgoings and would have become financially unviable, entering administration. This would have left the council facing losses of more than £20m.

Brierley Homes has borrowed a total of £27.54m from the council. The authority recently approved extending the company's loan facility by three years, to 2031 instead of 2028. Opposition councillors questioned why this decision was approved several months ago but a public notice was only issued this week.

The revelations came after concerns were raised by former council chairman Cllr George Jabbour at a public meeting about the loans. Reform councillor Tim Grogan, who sought answers about the total council borrowing, said the situation left him deeply angry. The handling of the loan extension decision has drawn further criticism from opposition members.

North Yorkshire Council's housebuilder needed £3.4m bailout
Image: The Press (York)

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In this story: North Yorkshire Council · Brierley Homes · Carl Les · George Jabbour · Tim Grogan

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