England’s Local Councils Are Reeling From a Financial Crisis
Woking’s skyscraper debt highlights the squeeze on municipal finances
The Hilton hotel’s skyscrapers overlook Woking’s Victoria Place shopping arcade.
Photographer: Carlotta Cardana/BloombergThe glitzy Victoria Square development, boasting two skyscrapers and a new Hilton Hotel, was to be a new landmark for the London commuter town of Woking. Instead, it stands as a monument to how financial bets by local councils can go badly wrong.
The hotel is yet to open its doors. Work to replace unsafe cladding on the outside of the building, which dominates the skyline of the town of 100,000 people, will only be completed this summer, almost four years after the complex’s scheduled opening was blown off track by the Covid-19 pandemic. The original budget for the development has more than quadrupled to more than £700 million.