Parking charges to be hiked as civic chiefs agree probe into £1.5m finances gap
Finance bosses at North Warehouse said the council has found itself in this “challenging” position
Parking charges will be hiked to help plug the £1.5m overspend found in Gloucester City Council finances and an independent inquiry will be launched to get to the bottom of what went wrong.
Finance bosses at North Warehouse said the council has found itself in this “challenging” position due to having no audited or unaudited accounts dating back from the cyber attack in 2021.
City chiefs agreed on Wednesday night (September 10) to increase parking charges, review the council’s fees and charges and review how to make more money while revisiting the business plans of Gloucester Guildhall, Museum and Blackfriars Priory.
Deputy leader and resources cabinet member Declan Wilson (LD, Hucclecote) told the cabinet meeting that the authority has been relying on manually produced accounting records and finance reports after the cyber attack.
These were used to inform them of the financial health of the authority and were relied on to make important budget decisions during the previous administration and the current one.
Cllr Wilson said the council had at one stage four years’ worth of open books.
“It is unprecedented in 35 years of working in various finance roles, mostly in the automotives and aerospace sectors, I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” he said.
“However, over the last year we have made a lot of progress, and I think I need to update you on where we are with regards to the years that were incomplete when we took, when I took on this portfolio.”
He detailed when each financial year’s accounts were signed off.
“2021/2022, we got signed off in December 2024,” he said.
“2022/23 was signed off earlier this year in January, before the audit committee in February.
“2023/2024 are currently going through the process with the auditors and should be signed off soon, and 2024/2025 should be signed off by the statutory deadline, which is next February.
“Once that deadline is met, it is my ambition to ensure that we take the drama out of this whole process and start meeting our deadlines as a matter of course.”
He acknowledged the effort and hard work of the finance team in dealing with the problem and how they have worked under enormous pressure.
“Where we are actually at this moment in time is that we have roughly £1.5 million less in reserves than we thought that we had when we set the budget last year, and for an authority of this size, that gives us a very, very serious challenge,” he said.
The council was facing financial challenges before the £1.5m overspend was discovered such as pay increases, delays to the completion of The Forum and extra works needed at Gloucester Museum, he added.
The reorganisation of local government in the county is also expected to cost the City Council £1m.
Cllr Wilson said they must increase their general fund balance and as a result car parking charges will be going up in line with inflation in November.
“We cannot have a negative balance, so we must deliver in the savings already in the plan,” he said.
“We will look at recruitment and sadly we will have to increase car park charges by inflation.
“We will review all fees and charges, all non-essential spend, and we will look at the scope of the contract and see if there are any other savings to be found there, officers of information and asset management review to develop a higher income generating profile and we will revisit the business plans of the Guildhall Museum and Blackfriars.”
He also said there is a need for the whole council to change its mindset and all political parties should work together.
“We must cooperate. We have a huge financial challenge, and the only way we can get through this is if we all start working with each other and start working together and doing what’s best for the city and start playing all the political games.”
Councillor Sarah Sawyer (LD, Longlevens) proposed a successful amendment for an independent inquiry to find out what went wrong.
This was seconded by Council Leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) and cabinet agreed with the recommendations in the report.
He also said earlier in the meeting that the overspend is linked to revenue costs, those which are incurred in the provision of services, and is not related to capital spending on council projects.
Parking charges will be increased in council owned car parks from November 1.