Empty Oswestry car parks mean drop in income for town council
Deserted car parks have led to a drop in income of about £8,000 a week, a town council has revealed.
With all but essential shops shut and many people working from home under the current lockdown, Oswestry's town centre car parks are almost empty.
They are run by Oswestry Town Council, which said this week that the knock-on effect on its finances was a large one to bear.
The council runs the largest, Central car park in the town as well as those at the Horsemarket and on Smithfield Street.
Historically they have drawn in a large proportion of its income.
'Huge wave'
At the full council meeting on Wednesday Councillor Les Maguire asked how the council would manage to deal with the huge drop in income.
"The shops are shut and people are not coming into town. How are we going to ride this huge wave, this drop in our income for car parks, which is 50 per cent down?"
Oswestry Town Council clerk, Mr Arren Roberts, said that during the latest lockdown income was down about £8,000 a week.
"The town council is doing everything it can to manage our expenditure, he said. We are reducing our spend and holding vacancies.
"Clearly it is difficult but hopefully we can offset those losses."
Councillor Mark Jones asked about the electric charging points in the Central car park and Mr Roberts said that they brought in a guaranteed monthly income from the company that leased the two spaces on which they were installed.
In a budget report earlier in January Mr Roberts and the finance officer, Roger Dyke, said that the budget had been drawn up in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainty of several of the council’s income streams.
Reserves
"Car park income, to date, in 2020/21 is 50 per cent lower than compared to 2019/20," the report said.
But it said that the level of reserves had protected the council from needing to make short term decisions.
"They have grown steadily over a number of years as a result of the strategy of not being overly optimistic in our income predictions – the medium-term risk is, however that we go into reverse.
"Council’s reserve policy £1.7m to £2m protects the council against any unexpected, significant expenditure and is higher than most councils.With income down, costs increasing and a limited ability to increase income, the budget provides some flexibility on costs but carries risks on income."
