CASH-stricken Thurrock Council could see a big chunk of money paid into its coffers in the near future after a buyer appears to have been found for the solar farms it catastrophically invested around a billion pounds in.

Whatever happens the council will still lose hundreds of millions, including around £50 million it has spent on financial experts to try and recoup some of its losses.

However, news that Schroders Greencoat - a subsidiary of the asset management group Schroders – could be about to clinch a deal to buy the holdings of Toucan Energy from administrators Interpath Advisory is a chink of light in what has been a dark and tortuous tale of financial mismanagement.

Schroders Greencoat are reported to be ready to pay up to £700 million for Toucan. The company was the brainchild of entrepreneur Liam Kavanagh who persuaded Conservative-run Thurrock Council to invest hundreds of millions in it through a bond issue.

Entrepreneur Liam Kavanagh and disgraced council finance chief Sean Clark.

Mr Kavanagh's links with the council and his relationship with disgraced chief financial officer Sean Clark has been the subject of much speculation and the Financial Reporting Council are currently carrying out a probe into what happened.

Toucan went bust before repaying the bonds, plunging Thurrock Council into the catastrophic financial crisis that led to government intervention and virtual bankruptcy.

The authority is in line to get a significant amount of money back if the Schroders deal is completed – but it won't stay long on the council's balance sheet, it will be used to pay off part of the huge debt it accrued through borrowing to repay money it had been loaned by many councils, pension funds and investment bodies through the public works loan board.

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The council has been tight-lipped about the sale of Toucan's assets which include 53 solar farms, but has acknowledged the repayment will not match the total money it has lost.

Leader of Thurrock Council's opposition Labour group, Cllr John Kent, says: "We are yet to see the details of this deal but it is clear the council has lost hundreds of millions of pounds as a result of the Conservative chronic mismanagement of council finances and their reckless gamble with our money,

"The fact remains that the council is still hundreds of millions in debt and council taxpayers will still be paying more and more for fewer and fewer services and vital community assets are set to be sold off at knockdown prices.

"The Tories are guilty of unbelievable levels of complacency, mismanagement, and incompetence that should have resulted their removal from public office, sadly they are still here and still making decisions!"