TIME Square, Warrington’s showpiece shopping and leisure complex, looks to have suffered a massive blow as a result of the cost of living crisis, with a knock-on impact on the borough council.
A report to be considered by the council’s cabinet next week indicates the income target for the centre of £1.507 million is unrealistic in the present economic climate.
Food and beverage and the cinema and leisure industries have been significantly impacted by Brexit, Covid, the cost-of-living crisis and recent increases in employment costs.
The report by Cllr Denis Mathews, Cabinet Member for Finance, Assets, and Investments, states that the anticipated rental income from the centre is now estimated to be around £ 780,000.
The two anchor occupiers -The Botanist restaurant and Cineworld – are both on CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement) based rent reductions enforced on the council, reducing contracted rent by more than £200k a year.
In addition, the council suspects from recent contact, the University of Chester, which also occupies premises in the centre, is likely to terminate their lease through a break clause in June next year, which would result in a loss of a further £244k a year.
The report states there is no budget provision for landlord void costs and service charges associated with vacant leisure units and costs across the wider estate, alongside the investigation costs associated with pop-up electrical supply, wind damage to cladding panels and cracking glass, estimated to be around £250k.
The report is delivered against a background of a forecast council overspend of £27.284 million – a deterioration over the outturn position last year, when the overspend was £12.075 million.
The cabinet will be recommended to note the 2025-26 forecast position as a £27,284 million overspend for the year
9 Comments
Which poses the question: has it taken the presence of the government’s envoys’ in depth investigation into WBC’s true financial state for this announcement to be made? Surely WBC has long been aware of the Time Square scheme’s developing financial situation?
Time Square was always a bad investment. Arrogant, with zero accountability. How many citizens submitted FOI requests about the cost of the new council office to be told that the information didn’t exist?
I like the space – especially the new market – but the whole project has been mismanaged. It came in at 3 times budget and the timing was awful – retail is shrinking everywhere because of competition from the internet, a factor which was clearly visible at the beginning of this project but not taken into account.
I don’t think we should blame ‘cost of living’ for this one. It was arrogance, poor planning, poor management and a total lack of accountability which have led us to this point.
One of the biggest problems in this country is the price of essential services & housing ,which leaves too many people with too little to spend in the wider economy. Unless people can feel they can afford leisure & night time economy facilities they will stay at home. Lack of disposable income is one of the greatest barriers to trade & economic growth in the UK.
The conditions you mention existed when Time Square project was being considered and when it was started. Started despite several contributors here and elsewhere expressing concern over its likely eventual cost. Those concerns were dismissed by the then council leader as alarmist and ill founded. He consistently refused to give even an outline calculation to justify the decision to proceed. Moreover he steadfastly refused to say how much the new council office element of the TS scheme would cost. In fact TS costs were deliberately concealed, even when the first units were being allocated. So much so those most at risk (council taxpayers) were denied any opportunity to see if their concerns were justified. In other words they were subjected to several of the faults the envoys listed in their letter to the former interim CEO.
All Warrington borough council were after was a new headquarters ?
You need to take a look at Chester what a proper job they’ve done of revamping the city centre without breaking the bank !
Chester is completely different to Warrington, it is a tourist destination. I was there on Tuesday and it was packed out. I would estimate from the accents and those at the train station that well over 50% were from outside the city.
If you compare TS with their equivalent, their new market, it is not much different. Their cinema is much smaller, the restaurants around it are more exclusive, eg Cosy Club, but were almost empty at Lunchtime. Their market has even fewer non food stalls than ours and their food court offers less choice as well as prices being higher than Warrington.
I see many towns following the same pattern as Warrington, Town centre flats, Cinema, smaller markets with food courts. Bury, Chester and Northwich (minus the market). Others like St Helens and Wigan are doing the same.
Then do you not think Warrington should adopt the same ideas ?
Problem is Warrington borough council are too greedy ! Trouble with WBC is that they want it all without surrending something in return
Cost of living crisis ?
Really is it not down to the actions of an incompetent council ?
Yes I believe it is a cost of living crisis BUT most people try to live within their means.
WBC see the council tax payers as a bank !