Contact: Mike Walls Tel: 01962 847102; email: [email protected]

With the concurrence of the Chairman, under Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, this matter was included on the agenda to ensure that timely decisions are taken with regard to the finances of the Country Park.

1 Introduction

1.1 This report presents the outturn for the 2007/08 financial year (year ended 31 March 2008), and outlines the budget for the current financial year.

1 2007/08 Financial Outturn

1.1 Appendix A gives the overall 2007/08 outturn summary for the Park's operations. Appendix B summarises the budget by cost centre. Appendix C summarises the outturn by cost centre.

1.2 Appendix A shows that the Park returned an operating loss of £7,096 against a budgeted surplus of £22,822. This is primarily due to poor weather in the summer and spring, but the Foot and Mouth disease and Blue Tongue also had an impact. Throughout the year costs had been trimmed to meet the budgeted return, and a more modest surplus of up to £15,000 was anticipated.

1.3 However, the extreme weather over Easter at the end of March translated into very poor visitor numbers and income for the Park, and turned the forecast surplus into a deficit. The following table puts the 2008 Easter into perspective:

Easter in Year	Income (£)
March 2005	20,323
April 2006	25,703
April 2007	31,592
March 2008	8,749

The average income for the previous three years was £25,873. Had this been received in 2008, the outturn for the year would have been a surplus of £18,776.

1.4 As a consequence of the trading deficit, the reserves ended the year in the red by £6,142. Steps are being taken by the management team to recover the position during the current financial year.

1.5 There were a number of variations against budget in all the cost centres (see Appendices B and C). Significant variations are as follows :

· Management (-£12,324) - there were major savings in staff (£12k) due to vacancies, and in the equipment budget (£5.5k), and there were minor savings elsewhere. These were partially offset by reduced income from sales and other charges (£5.1k) and gate receipts (£1k).

· Operations and Education (+£19,730) - savings in the expenditure budget totalled £29.9k, mainly due to economies made in grounds maintenance (£11.9k), animal feed (£5.5k) and education materials (£2k). Income was down by £49.6k, however, due mainly to gate receipts (£17.7k), sponsorships and grants (£12.1k), farm and garden sales (£6.9k). The lack of income from the Victorian Coach House was also a factor.

· Commercial (+£22,512) - it was another year of mixed fortunes for the commercial operations of the Park. The Shop returned a reduced but reasonable profit due to lower volume of sales. The Conference and Events operation exceeded the forecast return by keeping costs down. The catering operation returned much lower profit with costs up and turnover down; this is a cause for concern which the Park management team are addressing.

1.6 Overall the operating deficit (after including partner contributions) of £7,096 can be summarised as follows:

	Revised Budget	Outturn
	2007/08	2007/08
Expenditure	991,400	942,615
Income	782,900	704,726
Net Expenditure	208,500	237,889
Funding from Local Authority Partners	231,322	230,793
Surplus	22,822	(7,096)

2 Reserves

2.1 After transferring in the operating deficit of £7,096 the reserves are now in deficit by £6,142. The budget for 2008/09 is set to produce a surplus of £14,005 which will return the reserves to a position of surplus.

3 2008/09 Budget

3.1 The proposed budget for 2008/09 was presented and agreed at the November JMC and is shown in Appendix D. Although there is no Easter Bank Holiday in 2008/09 there has been the two week Easter school holiday in April 2008. Now that key Marketing and Event staff are in post, and with the opening up of the Victorian Coach House and the new shop location there is confidence that the income targets will be met.

3.2 The 2008/09 budget will be formally revised as usual in the autumn to take into account the performance in the summer and the expectations for the remainder of the financial year.

4 Financial Summary

4.1 The Park had a good start to the 2007/08 financial year but as the Park Manager has mentioned in his report a poor summer and spring and the impact of Foot and Mouth disease and Blue Tongue significantly depleted the visitor numbers. Measures were put in place to counter the effect on the Park's financial position. These included delaying staff appointments, postponing infrastructure improvements and purchases of equipment. Their efforts, however, were undermined by the atrocious Easter which left them no time to recover the situation. The income taken over those four days were the worst recorded. Ending the year with a deficit in reserves of £6,142 is disappointing but not disastrous.

4.2 The 2008/09 financial year started reasonably well with the fortnight school holiday in April enjoying good weather. However, the wet weather over the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May has dampened any early hopes of a strong start to the financial year. But with an almost full complement of staff the management team is confident that the Park will return a surplus on its operations by the end of the year.

4.3 The Park staff are working hard to control costs and to generate additional income by encouraging new and repeat visits and by opening up new opportunities. This will bring the reserves once more into the black and lay the foundations for the implementation of the planned improvements in the Park.

Recommendations

1 That the financial outturn for 2007/08 be approved.

2 That the budget for 2008/09 be noted.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

Published works.

Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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