Council loan helps secure 250 jobs

A loan of £4m made from Leicester City Council’s Leicester City Investment Fund to a private developer has earned the council £600,000 in interest and helped to secure 250 jobs in the city, says the Council.

The council made the loan to Infrastructure Investments in 2016, which spent it on bringing unoccupied space in St George’s Tower, Charles Street into use, allowing Hastings Insurance to expand its operation in the city.

The loan has now been repaid in full, and the Council says it has earned £600,000 from the transaction.

City Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby said: “I set up the Enterprising Leicester Fund in 2016 to encourage economic regeneration and job creation in the city. This is a way of supporting the city, while getting a better return on the council’s money than it would earn in the bank. This was a particularly significant loan and I am delighted with the result.”

James Boyle, director of infrastructure investments said: “Leicester City Council has supported our efforts from the moment we acquired St George’s. The speed at which the City Mayor and council moved to ensure the project happened and the additional jobs came to Leicester was something many banks and commercial organisations could only hope to emulate.

“Thanks to the success of this final phase of the St George’s regeneration project, we have been able to attract stable, long-term funding to secure the property’s economic future as a major source of employment, for decades to come.”