What led to a council needing a government bailout of up to £80m?

The government has given Bedford Borough Council Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) that could be worth up to £80m.

The local government minister said EFS was "critical" to ensure councils could "balance the books".

But what will the money be used for in Bedford, what might it mean for taxpayers and how has the Conservative-run authority reached this point?

EFS was brought in six years ago to help councils facing financial failure set balanced budgets and prevent them declaring themselves effectively bankrupt.

It gives them permission to sell assets or borrow treasury money at low interest rates while they sort out finances.

A total of 37 local authorities received EFS this week, including Thurrock and Peterborough, with the Local Government Association calling it a sign of how stretched councils are after years of austerity.

Neighbouring Luton Council was given £35m after its finances were hit by the impact of Covid on the airport it owns in 2020.

The authority will get up to £45m in revenue budget support to address what the Conservative mayor of Bedford Tom Wootton called a financial shortfall "in the £30 millions".

It has been offered another £2m to cover the costs of the Cleat Hill explosion that killed two people in October 2024, leading to an eight-week evacuation the council had to pay for.

An additional £33m is available to fund the updated construction of the long-awaited Wixams railway station.

But with anticipated demand of up to 8.5 million visitors a year to the proposed Universal theme park, building work was put on hold while designs for a larger, four-platform station were confirmed, by which point the authority had already spent over £28m.

Wootton hoped it would not need all of the funding offered.

"We have got plans and I really hope people from Bedford understand the lengths we are going to, to make sure we don't have to use much of this government money," he said.

Last summer, the authority faced a claim from opposition councillors it was effectively bankrupt following a review of its finances by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

The review found the council needed "a robust, credible strategy" to secure its longer-term financial future and be "prepared to act boldly and make politically unattractive decisions".

CIPFA believed the council was "already in S114 territory", which would lead to a freeze on all non-essential spending, but the Conservative administration denied the authority was bankrupt.

Fast forward to January 2025 when the authority asked the government for EFS, and Wootton said: "We have to keep the council going and this is the solution, although it is a really painful one."

Opposition councillors accused the administration of "wasteful spending", with Lib Dem opposition leader Henry Vann using the former Debenhams store in the High Street as an example.

The authority bought the building in 2024 for £1.8m after it closed in May 2021 and, although an information centre has opened on the first floor, the rest remains empty.

Vann said: "We were promised it would be filled by Christmas 2024, but we are now in 2026 and it is still sitting empty."

He claimed it was costing the authority approximately £450,000 a year and added that "over the last three years, we have seen overspends, wasteful spending and spending on vanity projects".

However, Wootton said there were "things like children's services, fostering and adoption and social care that we cannot say no to".

It took two attempts, but in February, councillors agreed a balanced budget for the next financial year.

As a result, council tax will go up by 4.99% from April, meaning people in band D properties will pay an average of £95.59 extra a year.

On top of that, three inspectors will spend three months in Bedford as the government is worried about financial management at the council.

Bedford Borough Council will pay up to £3,400 per day for that, and Abu Sultan, who leads the authority's Labour group, said: "Having to foot the bill for a team of inspectors hardly constitutes best value for our residents when this money could have been spent on front-line services."

And whether the authority borrows the full EFS amount or not, Vann was worried the borough would be repaying it "for decades to come."

Opposition councillors are calling for Tom Wootton to resign, even though Bedford Borough Council warned a by-election would cost £350,000.

The calls came after news of the government inspection, and Wootton appeared to blame the authority's financial problems on officers, including its chief executive.

The Greens, led by Ben Foley, said: "The group is utterly shocked by the mayor's attempt to pass the buck for the failings of his administration."

Independent Doug McMurdo said: "This is not finger-pointing, it is a culmination of Mayor Tom's continued failures that will leave Bedford Borough Council straddled in debt for decades to come.

The Lib Dems added: "The crisis at the council is so deep, the mayor has to go now."

But a council spokesperson said: "A by-election could only be held upon the disqualification for holding office, ceasing to qualify, death or resignation of the incumbent mayor."

Wootton said: "Resigning is not what it's about, it's about leading and sorting things out, and if they (the opposition) are saying I've made a problem, isn't it my job to sort it out?"

The next mayoral election is due in May 2027. In 2023, Wootton beat incumbent mayor Liberal Democrat Dave Hodgson by 145 votes.

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