Pressure mounts as council faces bankruptcy

Leaders were "wildly overoptimistic" about revenue estimates for a major project, an MP has said, as the council faces bankruptcy.

Gloucester City Council (GCC) chiefs are expected to ask the government for a bailout loan of between £12.5 and £17.5m this week to cover a £7.8m overspend.

The MP for Gloucester Alex McIntyre has sent 20 questions to the council's managing director, querying if GCC's "wildly overoptimistic" estimates are to blame for the city's financial problems.

Council leaders said they are committed to "transparency" and want to reassure residents they have been working to address to issue.

Mr McIntyre sent an open letter to the council's managing director John McGinty, questioning what happened to funding for the Forum, Gloucester Airport and crematorium overspends.

"Who was responsible for the revenue estimates for the Forum which have been proven to be wildly overoptimistic," he asked.

"The council must have recognised that there was a shortfall in the Forum's financial position. Why did the Council not take earlier action to acknowledge that shortfall?"

Costing £107m, the Forum is 142,000 sq ft (13,192 sq m) of office space in the Kings Quarter area of Gloucester, and is due to open in 2026 following several setbacks.

The former Conservative MP for Gloucester Richard Graham also questioned why council leaders decided to spend money exploring a new model of local government with a Gloucester-centric unitary council.

"Gloucester leading anything bigger, when it has led itself into bankruptcy, will be a hard sell," Mr Graham said, adding that he believes the city council should focus on a short-term survival package and not "spend a penny more".

A spokesperson for Liberal Democrat-run council said they "appreciated the interest shown by Gloucester's Labour MP Alex McIntyre and former Conservative MP Richard Graham regarding the council's current financial position.

They said the authority is now focused on finding solutions.

"Their questions and comments reflect the importance of this issue to our city," they added.

As a result of the financial issues, council leaders are considering job cuts, ending the lease with English Heritage for Blackfriars Priory and reducing museum opening days.

Taking about the overspend, Alastair Chambers, who is in charge of the independent councillors, said: "The black hole is no longer a black hole, it's a crater."

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