An opposition councillor has accused Bedford Borough Council’s leadership of failing to be fully open with residents about a request for up to £55 million in exceptional financial support from the government.
At a meeting of the Executive last night (Wednesday), Cllr Michael Headley (Liberal Democrat, Putnoe) said the scale of the council’s financial problems was not being clearly set out in its new Improvement Plan.
This is despite the authority having already asked Whitehall for help to balance its budgets over the next three years.
Read: Bedford Borough Council faces £58.6m medium-term gap as borrowing rises and savings tighten
He told the meeting the document only referred to “any request for’ government support ‘if required”, which he said gave the impression that an application might not be needed.
Cllr Headley said: “Why is there no real reference to this in the proposed Improvement Plan?
“The only reference to exceptional financial support talks about an ‘if required’ or ‘any request for’ as if it might not happen, might not be needed.
“We know a huge sum has already been requested – up to £55 million for balancing the budgets over the three years.”
Clearer language needed
The Improvement Plan, which was approved by the Executive later in the meeting, is intended to support the council’s financial recovery and forms part of the documentation required for any application for exceptional financial support from central government.
Councillor Headley argued that the plan’s wording was too vague and did not reflect the seriousness of the council’s position.
“This grave situation this council is in cannot be hidden away,” he said.
“I appreciate that the administration is obviously reluctant to admit that the council is bankrupt, and it has run out of money, and it needs this exceptional financial support from the government.
“You might be reluctant to admit that, but it is important to be transparent with the public.”
Responding, Mayor Tom Wootton (Conservative) confirmed that Bedford Borough Council had already asked ministers for additional financial help and accepted that the Improvement Plan could be clearer on the point.
He told the meeting: “We have asked for extra financial assistance. If you are saying we have not put enough around it, then your recommendation that we put more in about it is noted.”
Rising costs
The plan sets out proposed changes to governance, service reform and financial controls to support future budget setting and ongoing discussions with the government.
When agreeing on the document, the Executive also committed to seeking support from Full Council for its delivery.
The Improvement Plan acknowledges that the council is under significant financial pressure, citing overspending in areas including temporary accommodation, adult social care, children’s services, and the use of agency staff.
Those pressures are among the reasons the council has had to seek exceptional financial support, which allows councils in severe difficulty to ask the government for permission to use capital funding or other measures to help balance their day-to-day budgets.
Transparency questioned again
This is the latest highlight of concern about openness and transparency at Borough Hall.
In July 2025, councillors complained that a report by financial experts CIPFA into the council’s operations had still not been shared with all councillors or published publicly
This prompted calls from within the council’s own Executive for greater clarity and transparency over the authority’s finances.
Read: Transparency at Borough Hall called into question again as finance report still not shared
At the time, the mayor rejected criticisms that the lack of transparency was a political decision after chief executive Laura Church said the CIPFA report was listed in the council’s notice of forthcoming decisions to be considered formally by the executive.
“In my opinion, it should be published as soon as possible. But if the chief executive is telling me I shouldn’t publish it… We can’t have some councillors seeing it and some not… We’ve got to be fair,” said the mayor.
The CIPFA report was finally made public in September 2025.
Read: Report says Bedford Borough Council must take urgent action to avoid bankruptcy
By John Guinn, Local Democracy Reporter
Additional reporting by Paul Hutchinson, Bedford Independent
