Building slump causes £500,000 drop in city finances (Cambridge Liberal Democrats)

Cambridge Liberal Democrats <camlibdems@gmail.com>

Building slump causes £500,000 drop in city finances

February 3, 2009 11:50 AM

Cllr Sian Reid

Cambridge City Council expects to lose almost £500,000 over the next year because of the slump in the building trade.

Developers, who have called a halt to city projects during the credit crunch and private individuals, are no longer putting in as many planning applications. The result is a 55 per cent drop in fees from an expected £1 million to just £440,000.

And the downturn is expected to get worse next year with a 60 per cent drop in income totalling £600,000. Figures are not expected to return to normal until 2011.

Executive Councillor for Growth and Change, Sian Reid, said: "We are seeing a real impact from the lack of major planning applications which are around 75 per cent down on where we would expect them to be. That's a loss of about £165,000 from these applications alone.

"Obviously the building trade is suffering from the recession and that has a knock on effect on the council's finances. We are hoping that the figure will climb to £500,000 by 2010/11 and be back on track the following year."