The council's announcement gave no price. Its own decision report says it took out £24m of Public Works Loan Board borrowing to complete the purchase.

Harlow Council has borrowed £24 million from the Public Works Loan Board to complete its purchase of Terminus House.

The figure is in the council’s own decision report, signed by the Leader on 4 August. The press release the council issued the same day announcing the purchase does not mention money at all.

The purchase price itself is still not public. It sits in an appendix the council has withheld under the Local Government Act 1972, on the ground that it relates to someone’s financial or business affairs.

What the report actually says

The report is titled Town Centre Strategy: Terminus House. Its executive summary sets out the decision in one sentence: to exercise the powers delegated by Full Council

“to take out £24m of PWLB borrowing to finance the completion of the purchase of the freehold of Terminus House including SDLT and associated purchase costs.”

The formal resolution puts it slightly differently, noting Full Council approval for “PWLB borrowing of circa £24m to refinance the acquisition”, alongside short-term inter-authority and internal borrowing to get the deal over the line first.

A separate figure appears further down. In August 2025 the Leader agreed to incur expenditure of up to £330,000 to cover excess stamp duty, fees and other purchase costs. The executive summary describes the £24 million as including stamp duty and associated costs, so the two numbers are not simply additive, and the report does not spell out how they sit together. (Harlow Council, Town Centre Strategy: Terminus House, decision of 4 August 2026)

Why the council borrowed rather than paid

The section 151 officer, the council’s statutory finance chief, looked at four ways to fund the completion. The report names all four and says why three were rejected:

  • Short-term lending between councils. A higher interest rate than the loan board.
  • Private capital markets. The highest overall cost, because lenders would add a risk premium to a property bought for future redevelopment, plus higher arrangement fees.
  • Capital receipts from selling surplus council assets. Rejected on timing. The report says the disposals programme “has not yet reached a stage of maturity to give the council sufficient undeployed capital to complete the Terminus House purchase”. We reported on that disposals programme earlier this year.
  • Public Works Loan Board borrowing. Chosen. Lower rate, and it lets the council pick the loan term and spread its repayment dates.

The report says provision for the borrowing, and for the interest and repayment costs, was already built into the 2026/27 capital strategy and budget that Full Council approved on 5 March 2026. On that basis it says the decision “will not change any of the assumptions that underpin the council’s prudent financial management”.

It also leaves the door open on paying some of it back early. As the sales programme progresses, the report says, it “will give the council options to reduce overall borrowing”.

The bit the press release did cover

The council’s announcement says the building is now completely empty, and that the previous owner relocated every non-Harlow resident to accommodation outside Harlow over the past year.

Councillor Dan Swords, the Leader, said: “When we said we would take back control of Terminus House, many people thought it couldn’t be done. Today, we’ve delivered.” He described the building as “a symbol of everything that had gone wrong in our town centre”. (Harlow Council, Harlow Council completes purchase of empty Terminus House)

The report adds the mechanics the release left out. Contracts were exchanged in August 2025, with a condition that the seller hand over the building empty. The seller served notice that vacant possession had been obtained on 1 July 2026. The council inspected the building and accepted the notice on 6 July, which started a 25 working day clock. Completion fell on 3 August 2026.

Fourteen months from vote to keys

Timeline of Harlow Council's purchase of Terminus House A timeline running from 5 June 2025, when Cabinet and Full Council delegated authority to the Leader, through 15 August 2025 when the Leader approved up to 330,000 pounds for stamp duty and fees and contracts were exchanged, to 1 July 2026 when the seller served the vacant possession notice, 6 July 2026 when the council accepted it after an inspection, 3 August 2026 when the purchase completed, and 4 August 2026 when the 24 million pound borrowing decision was signed and the purchase announced. Terminus House: how the purchase was done Dates as recorded in the council's own decision reports 5 Jun 2025 Cabinet and Full Council delegate 15 Aug 2025 Up to £330,000 for SDLT and fees; contracts exchanged 1 Jul 2026 Seller serves vacant possession notice 6 Jul 2026 Council inspects and accepts it 3 Aug 2026 Purchase completes 4 Aug 2026 £24m borrowing signed off Source: Harlow Council decision reports, Town Centre Strategy: Terminus House, 15 August 2025 and 4 August 2026. Graphic by Harlow Online
The 25 working days between the council accepting the vacant possession notice and completion were fixed by the contract, not chosen.

What the council bought, and what happens next

Full Council’s June 2025 resolution gave the Leader authority to buy one of two things: either 100% of the shares in Terminus House (Commercial) LLP and Terminus House Harlow Resi LLP, or the freehold interest in Terminus House and Terminus Street, including the existing multi-storey car park, the commercial premises and the residential units. The August 2026 report confirms it was the freehold that was bought.

The same 2025 resolution set out the next step. The asset is to be transferred to the Harlow Regeneration Partnership, so that Hill Group can prepare development options for the site. No scheme, no timetable and no number of homes has been published.

The building sits in the Little Parndon and Town Centre ward. The council took the land under section 120 of the Local Government Act 1972, which lets a council buy land for the benefit, improvement and development of its area, and borrowed under the Local Government Act 2003, which requires the borrowing to be affordable, prudent and compliant with the Prudential Code.

What it means for you

£24 million is a lot for a district council, and it is borrowed, not spent from reserves. Interest and repayments come out of the general fund, which is the same pot that pays for parks, bins and the council’s own running costs. The report says the cost was built into the budget Full Council passed in March, so it should not open a hole this year. What it does mean is that the money is committed for the length of the loan.

The price is the thing to watch. The borrowing figure is public because it had to be. The purchase price is in exempt Appendix A, and the council is entitled to withhold it while commercial interests are live. That justification tends to weaken once a deal has completed, so it is a reasonable thing for residents and councillors to keep asking about.

Nothing about the site has been decided. The building is empty and owned by the council. Anything after that, demolition, conversion, how many homes, what happens to the multi-storey car park, still has to go through the planning system, where you get to comment. We track new applications on our Harlow planning news page.

Sources

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