Northumberland council chiefs brace for £37.4million hit from pandemic

But Government grants received so far are covering more than half of this – £21.8million.

The extra costs due to coronavirus are also predicted to be offset by a £4million underspend in ‘business as usual’ areas, meaning that the authority’s general revenue spending in 2020-21 is expected to total £348million compared to the budgeted £314.7million.

Taking into account the grants and other income changes, the council is therefore forecasting a £9.34million overspend this year, according to a financial performance report being presented to the Tuesday, September 8, meeting of the cabinet.

It does add, however, that the authority ‘anticipates that there will be further funding forthcoming in relation to the income that the council has ‘lost’ as a result of Covid-19’.

In terms of spending on capital projects, there will be a ‘net reprofiling’ of £67.4million; although £6.4million of schemes due to take place in 2021-22 are to be moved into this year, £73.7million of spending is being deferred from this year to next.

During the first three months of the financial year, up to the end of June, £12.3million was spent on capital projects, including £4.1million on transport schemes and £5.7million on school buildings in the likes of Morpeth and Ponteland.

When the 2020-21 budget was approved by the full council in February, it included £9.8million of cuts and savings.

The report to councillors shows that £3.3million of this has been fully delivered, while there is a ‘high confidence level that activities and savings will be delivered’ in relation to another £1.1million.

There are plans in place for a further £3.2million which are awaiting delivery, however, £2.1million is unlikely to be achieved this year and there are no plans as yet for a further £140,000.

A ‘grim’ report in June outline how Northumberland as an area was one of nine local authorities facing a ‘triple-whammy’ of problems, which ‘likely reflects their relatively elderly populations, economic reliance on tourism and hospitality, and concentrated pockets of local socio-economic deprivation’.

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