Council approves urgent loan to house builder it backs, to ensure suppliers are paid

Gary Fielding, corporate director of resources at North Yorkshire Council, said the urgent cash boost was needed “because a number of sales fell through in the preceding weeks, that Brierley were expecting, and as a consequence of that there was a risk that suppliers wouldn’t get paid”.

The council took a view that the wholly owned company should stand by its obligations, including those owed in its supply chain.

The meeting document states: “The reason why this is required as an urgent decision is in order to allow the company time for sales to be received over the next few weeks and therefore this will provide additional loan headroom to ensure Brierley Homes can make all payments due in the event of some delayed sales in the coming weeks.”

The cash injection will take the house builder up to its agreed loan facility maximum from the council of £25m.

Brierley reported a net loss of £3.2m on 31 March 2025, due to £2.3m in financing costs and £1m in overheads.

The council said processes had been put in place to ensure more robust oversight of the house builder’s cash flow going forward. 

An independent report into Brierley is expected next month. To date, the developer has completed five projects comprising 75 market sale homes and 12 affordable homes, with a further six sites under construction.

The firm has a pipeline of over 500 homes, with over 200 being affordable, all with estimated delivery in the next four years.

The government injected millions in cash into council housebuilding skills and capacity earlier this year.

Several MPs from across the political spectrum, including former housing and shadow housing ministers, have backed a report that calls for the building of 100,000 council homes a year. 

Inside Housing revealed the top 50 biggest council house builders at the end of last year.