The top boss at Thurrock Council is under pressure to answer questions about how the authority got into more than £1.3billion of debt.

At the end of May, a major investigation revealed that the council had borrowed more than £600million of from other local authorities and invested it in renewable energy schemes outside of the borough.

The cash was just part of the council’s total debt of £1.327billion.

In a letter written to the council’s chief executive Lyn Carpenter, Labour leader Councillor John Kent called the amount of borrowing “incredible” and has demanded to know how the council plans to protect its finances.

He said: “The council appears to have used this borrowing like payday loans – borrowing from one council to pay off another.

“I want to know what the plan is to protect Thurrock Council services, if councils up and down the country, strapped for cash as they struggle cope with the demands of Covid-19 crisis, demand their money back.

“There are questions the Chief Executive must address such as the culture of secrecy and lack of oversight from members of the council’s borrowing and investments.”

He added that he hopes that Conservative councillors, who have been in administration since 2016, have also raised concerns, “after all this is taxpayers money”.

Conservative councillor Shane Hebb, who oversees finance, said: “Thurrock Council is in one of the best financial situations of any unitary authority.

“The simple facts are that Thurrock currently has a balanced budget up to 2022-23 and a published surplus of £11million over the same period with no cuts to services, thus ensuring that the services that residents use, depend on and want are in place for years to come.”

Shortly after details of the borrowing was published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the council attempted to downplay the level of borrowing.

It claimed that the actual level of debt was ‘just’ £280million, despite its own report published on February 19 explicitly stating “the council currently has £1.327billion borrowing at an average interest rate of 2.45 per cent”.

The report elaborated further, saying the authority’s debt is forecast to increase to £2.15billion by March 2023.