THERE has been a mixed reaction to our exclusive revelation that Newport City Council wants to borrow up to £90 million to finance the Friars Walk shopping centre.

The council aims to borrow the money and then lend it to developers Queensberry Real Estate (Newport) to ensure Friars Walk is open by Christmas 2015 - with the developers paying the cash back, plus interest, within a year of the scheme being completed.

Reaction on our website has largely been negative, though there are some of our readers who support the council's initiative.

Much of the negative reaction has been from those for whom the council can never do right, but there are also some well-reasoned and sensible arguments against the council's proposal to be found when you sift through the ranters.

The biggest concern among those who are making rational arguments against the £90m loan idea is this: what happens if Queensberry goes belly-up after it has been given the cash but before it is repaid?

The answer is the council would then take full ownership of the project (it already owns the land) and aim to service the loan, which is secured against the future value of Friars Walk anyway, by selling or refinancing the scheme.

If that could not happen then the worst-case scenario is the council would be paying off the loan at a rate of up to £7m a year from its own revenues - in other words, from your council tax.

So there are undeniable risks involved in the council's plan and there is a question mark over what level of risk, if any, Queensberry as a private business (though admittedly one with no capital of its own, given that its Newport arm is a special purpose vehicle that exists purely to build Friars Walk) is taking.

But the council is not, in my view, throwing good money after bad with this plan.

It has brought in Deloitte to provide independent expert advice - and that advice is there is sufficient security within the project for a loan of up to £90m to be viable.

The biggest reason for the council going down this route is timescale.

Debenhams remains the anchor store for the Friars Walk project. Its agreement to lease cites two opening windows - Christmas 2015 and spring 2016, with the former being preferable. If Friars Walk is not open by spring 2016 there is every chance Debenhams will walk and the scheme is dead.

Private investment is available to Queensberry but the state of the market is such that interest rates are close to unaffordable.

So the council has attempted to come up with a solution that meets Debenhams opening date requirements, provides funding that is cheaper and quicker to arrange, and gives the council a better return on its investment.

I do not believe the council should be castigated for its approach. In fact, it should be praised for taking an innovative approach to ensuring Friars Walk is open by Christmas 2015.

Of course, there is risk attached to this proposal and a certain uncomfortable feeling about so much public money being used to finance what is meant to be a private sector development.

Some councillors will undoubtedly have to wrestle with their political beliefs when they are asked to vote on this proposal next Tuesday.

The question I would ask them and those arguing against this proposal to consider is this - what is the alternative?

I have yet to see any alternative suggested, other than simply not building Friars Walk - an option that would, in my view, condemn Newport to an economic dark age from which it will never recover.

Friars Walk is not a cure-all for Newport's problems but it is a catalyst for future prosperity if the development works hand in hand with the creation of a Business Improvement District and whatever proposals Re:Newport comes up with.

When councillors vote on the £90m loan plan next Tuesday, there is a brutal reality to be considered and two simple questions to be asked.

If not this, then what? If not now, then when?