A council’s dependence on controversial plans to build a major housing development on a golf course have left it at ‘significant risk’ financial auditors have said.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead hopes to reap some £105 million from a deal with Cala Homes to build 1,500 homes on Maidenhead Golf Course. The council has said it needs the money to cover its debts.

But now a letter to the council from external auditors Grant Thornton says this dependence leaves the council at ‘significant risk’ if the actual value is less due to the possibility of fewer homes being built.

The letter says: “The Council’s borrowing decisions in recent years have been taken in the context of realizing this capital receipt and the possibility of achieving a lower value because of suggestions that a lower density of development should be pursued represents a significant risk to the Council’s future financial sustainability as a consequence of its high level of debt.”

READ MORE: Councillor quits Lib Dems over Maidenhead Golf Course deal

The council signed an agreement with Cala Homes in 2018 allowing it to develop the land on the council-owned golf course, under its previous Conservative leadership.

Liberal Democrats who now control the council opposed the plans. But when a petition signed by more than 2,000 people against the plans was delivered to the council in July this year, Liberal Democrat leaders said they were locked into the deal.

Councillor Adam Bermange – responsible for planning – said there was no way out of the contract with Cala.

But documents also suggest that the council’s finances depend on the £105 million it hopes to receive from the deal.

A council officers’ report in response to the petition said debts of some £200 million were built up in the expectation of being able to pay them off with the golf course money.

The council says the expectation of receiving this money had formed the basis for spending decisions over ‘several years’. It adds that this ‘led to the council incurring over £200m of debt which this deal was intended to repay’.

On top of this, the council report also points out that it had to apply to the government for ‘exceptional financial support’ in May this year.

Although the government has not yet agreed to this, such bailouts usually come on the condition that they are repaid by councils using money from property sales.

Council officers say that without the money from the Maidenhead Golf Course deal, the council would be unable to pay off its debts or a bailout, and have to go effectively bankrupt.

The letter from Grant Thornton is set to be discussed at a meeting of the council’s audit and governance committee on Monday September 9.