Up to £60 million could be at the disposal of Swale council after its Tory-controlled cabinet voted to double its borrowing facility.

The authority has already sanctioned a £30 million loan, of which a maximum of £28 million will go on the regeneration of Sittingbourne town centre.

The cabinet agreed to approve doubling the amount it can borrow from £30 million to £60 million – although the final decision will rest with the full council.

It plans to invest the money to generate income to replace the loss of an annual government grant.

Cabinet member for finance Cllr Duncan Dewar-Whalley (Con) said the purpose was “purely for this council to be solvent and be able to provide services in two or three years’ time”.

He said: “If we do not invest that money to gain profit we will not be able to provide services we do at this moment in time.

“It’s the same answer I give time after time. It’s so, so important that this council does make sure we are in business.

- Cllr Duncan Dewar-Whalley

“I do not want to be in a position where I have to make redundancies.”

Cllr Ghlin Whelan (Lab) asked whether the extra £30 million would be used to invest in housing or would head in the same direction as the first £30 million.

The council had to find new income streams, said Cllr Dewar-Whalley, and a business case would have to be put forward for any project that met certain strict criteria.

He said: “This is for new projects, not top-ups for Sittingbourne town centre.”

Cllr Nicholas Hampshire (Con) said he supported investing in the town-centre project.

He went on the offensive, saying Sittingbourne “is on the up” and he was “tired to hear from those who want to talk it down all the time”.

He said you did not need to be a chartered accountant like him to know reductions in the government grant needed to be filled, adding: “I am appalled to hear from opposition members that they do not appear to understand this.”

Cllr Roger Truelove (Lab) responded: “One of the things about democracy is people are allowed to have opposing views.

“I really don’t think the last speaker should give anyone lectures about understanding or not understanding.

“In order to support something, we need to know something about it.

“When you first talked about £30 million, I said it was for Sittingbourne town centre and you said ‘no, no’.

“What’s the next £30 million for, broadly speaking? Please don’t say we need to earn investment income.

“What’s the likely use of the £30 million?”

But the finance chief would not be drawn, simply saying he would go into more detail when he presents the council’s budget at the full council meeting.

Council leader Cllr Andrew Bowles (Con) said it would allow the authority to borrow if someone came up with an idea that gave a rate of return which meant services could be maintained in the long term rather than cut.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Truelove said the Sittingbourne town centre project was valued at £57 million and the council now had a borrowing capacity of up to £60 million.

He said: “I cannot help but think it’s for a bigger bail-out for the town centre.”