FURTHER to your article “Questions asked over council’s £35m loan to housing company” (Echo, Jul 29), I feel it is important that the purpose and basis of this loan from Hambleton District Council to Broadacres Housing Association is clear.

Broadacres is not a company, as your headline suggested, but a housing association. We operate on a not-for-profit basis and any surplus is used to maintain/improve our existing homes and build new homes. We operate across North Yorkshire but predominately in Hambleton.

Broadacres’ vision is to become the best rural housing association in the country. This will involve delivering 1,250 new homes by 2023. The vast majority will be rented at social/affordable rent with a smaller number sold as shared ownership. At the same time, we will be investing £20m in our existing homes with a particular focus on improving their energy efficiency.

To achieve these aspirations Broadacres needs additional funding to supplement the rent it receives from our customers. The funding comes from a variety of sources, including banks, bonds and the loan we received from Hambleton council. We pay a commercial rate on these loans which are secured against our homes. This is no different to the majority of housing associations in the country.

When we borrowed from Hambleton, we received advice from our treasury advisors. From our perspective the loan was at terms consistent with other options but had the added advantage that the interest we pay Hambleton is invested in local services which many of our customers use.

If we had borrowed from a bank, the interest would have gone towards shareholder dividends; it instead goes to a local authority with the community at the heart of its purpose.

We are committed to providing great homes to live in, great customer experiences and great places to live, and the loan we received from Hambleton is already making a real difference.

Gail Teasdale, Chief Executive, Broadacres Housing Association