Portsmouth City Council braced to see its debt increase by a whopping £358m by 2025

Budget forecasts published in its capital strategy for the coming decade, which will be discussed at the next cabinet meeting, show net debt increasing from £461m to £819m by 2025, which it warns could force the sale of some of its investments.

'We need to prevent it spiralling out of control,' Conservative opposition leader Simon Bosher said. 'It's very concerning to see debt doubling like this and borrowing increasing to service the council leader's aspirations.

'There needs to be a close look at what we can and can't afford and that includes things like the Bransbury Park leisure centre which seems to be increasing in cost all the time.'

But council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said the increased spending was taking advantage of 'extremely cheap' borrowing to fund 'financially prudent' projects which will turn a profit in the future.

'Every time we look at something we assess whether it's financially prudent and whether we can afford it,' he said. 'If either was not the case then we wouldn't go ahead. I have no concerns.

'Borrowing is extremely cheap and has allowed us to fund projects that will make good returns and has meant we have kept services running which have been cut elsewhere.

'We borrowed £140m to buy Lakeside which will make us a profit and to buy back council homes meaning we don't have to pay for bed and breakfasts which have an enormous cost.'

The capital strategy says the figure reflects the number of major projects being progressed by the council with more than £700m needing to be set aside for redevelopment schemes in Cosham, at Tipner and in the city centre.

The council has allocated a need to spend £1.3bn on projects over the coming years, with almost half of this money to be borrowed.

'The longer term aspirations that the council has for the city are ambitious and rely on the council applying the resources at its disposal in ways which deliver the greatest impact,' the strategy document says. 'Those resources include capital resources which will be targeted at expenditure that has the greatest prospect of delivering the council’s aspirations.

'However, this position cannot be maintained in the long term with the council's net debt increasing year on year, and it is expected that the council will have to undertake further external borrowing or sell investment properties in 2023/24.'

The net debt figure is expected to decrease slightly after 2025, falling by £11m over the following two years.

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