AJ SANT (sorry I do not know whether this is a gentleman or a woman) asked in SUM dated May 11 "How much debt?" since Labour came to power in Trafford.

The loan debt of Trafford MBC at 31.3.95 when they first had a majority was £77,179,000 which worked out at £354,00 outstanding debt per head of population.

On 31.3.99 these figures had risen to £105.568,000 (loan debt) and £482.00 outstanding debt per head of population.

In just 4 years the loan debt was up by a massive £28,389,000 - an extra amount of £128,00 debt per head of population.

(This information is printed in a booklet titled 'Greater Manchester Association of Metropolitan Treasurers' 'Facts, Figures and Finance').

There will be a new publication showing figures for 31.3.00 very shortly.

I, for one, will be interested to see whether there has been another increase.

As to AJ Sant's question "how does the council intend to reduce the capital debt, without a substantial hike in council tax next year?" I would love to know, especially as they keep raising council taxes well above inflation by approximately 5% per year.

Cllr Edith Eadie, (Conservative, Davyulme East).

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.