Council’s property income down £1.3m on budgeted forecast
03/09/2025
A councillor described the shortfall as “one giant elephant in the report”
Cherwell District Council are predicting the income from their property portfolio will be £1,343,000 less than anticipated this financial year – primarily down to slower-than-expected uptake of vacant units at the Castle Quay Shopping Centre.
The figure, which is just over a third lower than had been budgeted, was included in a Finance, Performance and Risk Monitoring Report considered by the council’s Executive last night.
Councillor Ian Middleton referred to the situation as “one giant elephant in the report”.
The report stated: “Void property costs exceeded budget due to extended vacancy periods and increased operational costs required to maintain the properties in a safe and marketable condition.
“We are intensifying marketing efforts to secure new tenants, reviewing cost controls on properties, and updating our financial forecasts regularly to ensure they reflect the most up to date tenancy and property information.”
Councillor Middleton was concerned that lessons should be learned for future budget planning exercises. He said: “One giant elephant in the report, I suppose, is the very large variance in the property figure – 36.5 percent – which as far as I understand is due to expectations of income from commercial property, particularly Castle Quay, with respect to filling voids which didn’t pan out as was expected.
“I just wanted to make that point from the point of view of hoping that we are learning from that experience and in the forthcoming budget we will be applying a more robust examination of those assumptions, to ensure that we don’t have the same problem again.”
Banbury FM has contacted the council asking if whether the situation is likely to get worse and if the deficit will have any effect on any other services.
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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