Business as usual at Hertsmere Borough Council
A COUNCIL which faces losing £1m of taxpayers' money has vowed to carry on with business as usual. Hertsmere Borough Council invested the sum in the Heritable Bank in August. But The Heritable – the UK arm of Icelandic bank Landbanksi – recently fell into
A COUNCIL which faces losing £1m of taxpayers' money has vowed to carry on with business as usual.
Hertsmere Borough Council invested the sum in the Heritable Bank in August.
But The Heritable - the UK arm of Icelandic bank Landbanksi - recently fell into financial difficulties and was nationalised by the Icelandic Government.
It remains unclear if Hertsmere will be able to recoup the money, and it is now liaising with the Local Government Association (LGA) to try to resolve the problem.
Council leader Morris Bright said the authority was in a strong financial position and sought to reassure residents the impact on services would be minimal.
"We will not let the international problems affect day-to-day running of our services locally," he said.
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" While £1m is a lot of money, because of investments elsewhere we are set to earn more than £1.5m in interest this year overall.
"There will be no loss of services in Hertsmere and no pulling back on community projects and funding."
Cllr Bright also assured residents the situation would not affect how council tax rates are set, and said the council would try to retrieve as much of the money as possible.
"We are keen to recover any monies and will be working closely with the LGA and administrators to achieve this," he added.
"Every pound lost is one pound too many."
Hertsmere Borough Council is one of 116 UK authorities known to have invested in Icelandic banks.
