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

1 Introduction

1.1 This report presents the outturn for the 2008/09 financial year (year ended 31 March 2009), and outlines the budget for the current financial year.

1 2008/09 Financial Outturn

1.1 Appendix A gives the overall 2008/09 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 £18,016 against a budgeted loss of £18,795. This slight improvement understates the efforts of the management team operating in difficult economic conditions. Throughout the year costs had been trimmed to meet the budgeted return, but some unexpected expenditure has been covered by additional income across most budget headings.

1.3 As a consequence of the trading deficit, the reserves ended the year in the red by £24,371. Steps are being taken by the management team to recover the position during the current financial year.

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

· Management (+£1,119) - There were minor savings across some of the expenditure budget headings, but there were overspends in energy costs (£6k) due to rising prices, in publicity and promotions (£3k), in ICT costs (£4k), and in cleaning and refuse collection (£6k). These were partially offset by increased income from sales and donations (£12k) and grants and contributions from other bodies (£6k).

· Operations and Education (-£10,098) - savings in the expenditure budget totalled £5k. This was mainly due to savings on the Ornamental Farm on staff and transport (£15k) which were partially offset by additional expenditure on a horse shelter and animal feed (£6k). There were also savings on expenditure in the Gardens and Glasshouses totalling £4k, but there was additional expenditure of £8k on equipment for the Education programme. The income budget was exceeded by £5k due to increased gate receipts (£7k) and funding for the temporary classroom (£10k). These increases masked the fall in income from grants (£5k) and recreational activities (£3k).

· Commercial (+£8,200) - it was another year of mixed fortunes for the commercial operations of the Park. The Shop returned a higher net profit than budgeted, but it was lower than last year's profit despite higher volume of sales. This was mainly because of increased staffing costs which is being addressed in the current year. The Conference and Events operation had a disappointing year returning a net deficit. Despite costs coming in under budget, income was down by £10k, due largely to the low take up of room hire and bookings for conferences. The catering operation returned a reduced profit against the budget with turnover up by £9k but costs up by £10k; this is still a cause for concern which the Park management team is addressing.

1.5 Overall the operating deficit (after including partner contributions) of £18,016 can be summarised as follows:

	Revised Budget	Outturn
	2008/09	2008/09
Expenditure	1,085,200	1,112,963
Income	829,300	857,985
Net Expenditure	255,900	254,978
Funding from Local Authority Partners	237,105	236,962
Deficit	18,795	18,016

2 Reserves

2.1 After transferring in the operating deficit of £18,016 the reserves are in deficit by £24,371. The budget for 2009/10 is set to produce a surplus of £1,533 which will start to reduce the deficit.

3 2009/10 Budget

3.1 The proposed budget for 2009/10 was presented and agreed at the November JMC and is shown in Appendix D. The 2009/10 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.

3.2 Given the current economic climate, the management team are doing all they can to keep expenditure down. With a quarter of the financial year behind us the expenditure to date is lower than at the same time last year. Although this is not a reliable measure because of the variables associated with the weather and site maintenance, a good indication of management intervention is that staffing costs are down by £12k due to vacancy management and to more economic use of temporary staff, especially in the Tea Rooms. Income is up, particularly from entrance charges, catering and shop sales. Although the initial signs are good, there will be no let up in the drive to return the Park to profitability and to overturn the deficit in reserves..

4 Financial Summary

4.1 Compared to 2007/08, 2008/09 saw overall income rise by almost £160,000 (17%) which is a major achievement in the current economic climate. Of this, nearly £27,000 was in gate receipts, £50,000 from sales and donations, and £53,000 from external grants

4.2 Unfortunately, expenditure rose by over £170,000 (18%). More than half of this increase (£90,000) was in staffing because of the new marketing and events post, additional staff required in Education projects, the annual pay inflation, and additional staff costs incurred as a result of the HCC Pay and Benefits scheme. The Supplies & Services expenditure also rose by £71,000, but £48,000 of this was the one-off cost of play equipment and £20,000 on supplies for the shop and catering operations.

4.3 Finishing the financial year so close to budget reflects well on the Park Manager and his team.

4.4 The 2009/10 financial year has started very well with income well up on last year, and expenditure being repressed. The good weather over the last few weeks has certainly helped the income streams. The challenge is to maintain the impetus and improve the performance of the commercial operations.

4.5 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.

6 Recommendations

1 That the financial outturn for 2008/09 be approved.

2 That the budget for 2009/10 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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