How Keating’s gig was a flop for city council

CAR parking fines, capital assets and interest will have helped Coventry council make £84million in income in 2018/19 – but Boyzone singer Ronan Keating has lost them money.

A breakdown of income for the financial year includes £15.7m from adult social care fees, £14.9m from rents, £7.8m from schools, £5.9m from waste fees, and £5.8m in interest.

The council also expects to have received £4.5m from car park charges, £4m from bereavement services fees, and £2.7m from car park fines.

Smaller income sources include £400,000 from St Mary’s Guildhall and £400,000 from the Godiva Festival.

The council has taken advantage of a relaxation in legislation which has given them greater freedom to source additional income over the last 15 years.

It is now an important part of the council’s financial make-up in the face of a reduced government funding - £120m less today in comparison to 2010.

Paul Jennings, finance manager, told a scrutiny board meeting: “It is striking for me that I can sit here and talk about the diversity in projects we have.

“We would not have had them five or six years ago and we are still looking at new ways to add assets to the portfolio to generate income.

“Members will be aware we made the investment into Coombe Abbey last year for instance.

“For quite a long time we have had shares in the Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company and the airport.

“Locally they are a financial strength to us as not all councils have that.”

Yet an attempt to gain profit by funding a string of concerts at the Ricoh Arena in early 2017 backfired.

Mr Jennings said: “We were planing to support a series of concerts including Ronan Keating but the ticket sales were not great so we decided not to go ahead with this.

“The artists were instead booked to the Godiva Festival, so we cut our losses in that respect. We do not have a figure but there might have been a small administrative loss.”

Other regular revenue streams, such as income from shares in Birmingham International Airport, are expected to have dropped this year.

Mr Jennings added: “This year our profits look like a much lower figure but these things change all the time and in 12 months that will be very different.

“One would assume being an international airport that will rebalance.”

However there are fears the council’s initiative in sourcing revenue streams could backfire if it is taken into account in the government’s fair funding review in 2019, when setting funding allocations.

Cllr Richard Brown added: “While I think it is absolutely the right thing to do, my concern is the harder we work the more they are going to rob us.”