COUNCIL chiefs have agreed to press ahead with far-reaching plans to drag Bolton out of the economic slump.

Officers have been told to investigate the viability of a number of options which range from business rate relief for local firms to providing house hunters with interest-free loans.

The plans, set out in a report by Bolton Council chief executive Sean Harriss and revealed in The Bolton news yesterday, were given the green light by the authority’s Labour Executive yesterday.

They were also backed by the leaders of the Conservatives and the Lib-Dems.

Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said: “It is good that we are all working together on this because we have to remember that local people are suffering and we need to pull together.

“This is just the start of this journey. It is going to be tough but we have got to hold our nerve and we will get through this.”

The council has also revealed it will look into the possibility of going one step further and providing mortgages for local residents who are desperate to get on the property ladder.

Council mortgages were a major part of the home-loan business in the 1960s, mid-1970s and the early 1980s but they died off when banks became the more attractive borrowing option.

Now the Government’s Department of Communities and Local Government has agreed to cut the national standard rate of interest from 5.07 per cent to 3.93 per cent.

The cut would allow local authorities to borrow cash at a more preferential rate and could tempt them back into providing mortgages for residents.

The move has been supported by an influential think-tank called the New Local Government Network (NLGN), which proposed the idea last year.

Chris Leslie, the NLGN director, said: “Councils know their patch, are familiar with the calibre of property in their area and have every incentive to see householders prosper.

“The council tax payer can be protected because any mortgage loans are secured against the asset of the property in question and may, indeed, make a healthy surplus for the community over time if housing normalises over the coming decades.”

A Bolton Council spokesman said yesterday: “We are already looking at a range of options to help house buyers struggling to get on the property ladder.

“Offering mortgages is something we will look to investigate, once we have more details on the Government’s proposals.”

andrew.greaves @theboltonnews.co.uk