{"id":192887,"date":"2025-06-17T23:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T23:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/192887\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T23:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T23:11:11","slug":"controversial-1bn-fund-run-by-andy-burnhams-office-extended-by-10-years-despite-legal-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/192887\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial \u00a31bn fund run by Andy Burnham’s office extended by 10 years despite legal action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The GMCA has denied claims two loans were approved with \u2018no lawful or proper process’Deansgate Square is Renaker’s best-known development, with four towers dominating the skyline(Image: Vincent Cole – Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

A controversial fund run by Andy Burnham\u2019s office that loaned \u00a31bn to property developers will continue despite a High Court battle.<\/p>\n

The Greater Manchester Housing Investment Loans Fund (GMHILF) was created in 2015 to encourage new housing in the city by loaning money to developers.<\/p>\n

Initially worth \u00a3300m, the cash was \u2018recycled\u2019 multiple times every loan was fully repaid, meaning around \u00a31bn was eventually loaned out.<\/p>\n

The fund closed to new applications earlier this year, as always planned.<\/p>\n

But on Tuesday (June 17), the government confirmed it will re-open and extend the fund \u2018to deliver thousands of new homes over the next ten years\u2019 as part of its push to build 1.5m properties.<\/p>\n

The fund is currently at the centre of a legal battle between the mayor\u2019s combined authority (GMCA) and major Manchester landowner Aubrey Weis.<\/p>\n

Mr Weis claims two loans, worth \u00a3120m, to one of Manchester\u2019s biggest developers, Renaker, breach the Subsidy Control Act.<\/p>\n

At hearings held at the Competition Appeals Tribunal last month, Mr Weis\u2019 lawyer, Joseph Barrett KC, claimed a ‘striking practice\u2026 appeared to be in play’.<\/p>\n

(Image: Renaker via website)<\/p>\n

He alleged Renaker owner, Daren Whitaker, told Manchester council his developments have a ‘very low profit margin’ to avoid making one-fifth of a project\u2019s homes affordable, as council policy dictates.<\/p>\n

But he also told the GMCA the same schemes have ‘high profit margins’ to secure public funding at \u2018modest\u2019 interest rates, the court heard.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Barrett later argued the loans were approved<\/a> with \u2018no lawful or proper process’.<\/p>\n

He added: “The pricing was agreed by two gentlemen sitting in a room and there was no lawful or proper process in relation to that critical element.”<\/p>\n

The GMCA rejected claims it loaned<\/a> from the GMHILF at interest rates below the market rate, or on ‘preferential terms’. But it accepted no due diligence was carried out into Daren Whitaker\u2019s personal circumstances when reviewing the loans.<\/p>\n

Aidan Robertson KC told chair Hodge Malek KC the GMCA had processes to stop the \u2018wool being pulled over its eyes\u2019 and prevent borrowers receiving \u2018favourable\u2019 interest rates.<\/p>\n

Each application was appraised by an independent panel before it ultimately went to a GMCA committee chaired by mayor Andy Burnham<\/a>, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been explained to [independent panel members] if they think it’s way below market rates you can expect them to say so,\u201d Mr Robertson said. \u201cThe role is to provide independent scrutiny and say to the authority we are not getting value for money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hearings have now concluded and chair Malek KC is expected to return a ruling later this month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Renaker declined to comment when previously contacted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The GMCA has denied claims two loans were approved with \u2018no lawful or proper process’Deansgate Square is Renaker’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8916,748,393,4884,11564,2465,8086,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-192887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-andy-burnham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greater-manchester-combined-authority","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-city-centre","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114701237312987251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}