The £60 million loan: Did Trafford Council bet on the wrong skyscraper?

Trying to work out what’s going on with the CIS Tower, the Grade II listed skyscraper in the Noma district, is a trickier business than it might seem. For one thing, the people who would have the most insight have signed NDAs. But even those who haven’t — refusing to sign saying it wasn’t in the spirit of open government — are tight-lipped.

The reason for our interest was a tip we received a few months ago. Apparently, the well-placed source said, a loan made by Trafford Council to the tower’s developer, Castlebrooke, back in 2019, had started to cause serious concern. That's because the council still hasn't got all its money back. Meanwhile, after receiving a series of questions from The Mill this week, officials simply said the matter was commercially sensitive. 

It’s a situation one seasoned developer described to The Mill this week as a “ticking timebomb”. That’s because the nature of the loan Trafford Council themselves received from the government has left other councils in serious debt. At the moment, Trafford Council is still awaiting over half — £34m — of the original loan to be repaid.

It’s known as a Public Works Loan and the way it works is that the council will have to pay it back as first order of priority. Essentially, if they don’t get their money back from Castlebrooke they’re going to have the government knocking on the door asking for £30 million. That repayment will have to be paid before the council can allocate money to key services. Onlooking developers have wondered why Trafford ever got into bed with a developer they feel wasn’t up to the job, on a scheme they say was barely viable in the first place. So what’s going on?