West Berkshire Council underspent more than £50m
Education, transport and commercial property contribute significantly
West Berkshire Council underspent more than £50m across its budgets through delays, savings and pausing its commercial property investment.
The council recorded a £1.46m underspend in its 2019/20 revenue budget of £125m, 1.2 per cent of the net budget.
It also recorded a £52.4m capital underspend – £35m through not investing in commercial property – out of a budget of £91.1m.
The council borrowed £100m from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) and has invested £62.6m in commercial property in a bid to generate income.
Last year the Government announced that PWLB rates could no longer be used for this purpose and the council suspended commercial property acquisitions in April this year.
Speaking at a recent meeting, the council's executive member for finance and economic development Ross Mackinnon (Con, Bradfield) said there would be a corresponding knock-on effect on income not being achieved.
The transport and countryside department ended the year with a £7.2m underspend, £6.1m of this owing to delays in the Sandleford Access Project and the Newbury Railway Station improvements project.
Education recorded a £4.3m underspend across a number of school projects, most notably Highwood Copse at £1.2m.
The council's revenue underspend comprises £1.3m in adult social care, £435k in children and family services and £245k in education. Fewer cases and fewer complex cases helped child care lawyers save £331,000.
A number of vacant posts saved £179,000.
Adult social care saved through continuing health care funding, competitive pricing and overachieving income targets.
Executive for adult social care Graham Bridgman (Con, Burghfield and Mortimer) said: "One element of the underspend is a sad reflection, it is an increased number of deaths in our client base, and this is pre-Covid, and looking at the numbers going forward that is likely to continue to be a challenge in our prediction of how many long-term service clients we have over time."
He said the council's procurement team had "protected council tax payers' money and got good deals."
