Salford council has been forced to write off almost £2 million of debt following a decade-long saga over a 'confusing' car park. The town hall was due a £1,961,369 payment from businesses using Victoria Car Park on Salford Quays, but due to 'complex' issues and a lack of information, council officers spent years figuring out who its occupiers were.
The figure was the largest sum in a write-off of almost £6 million of irrecoverable debt signed off at a special leaders' meeting on Tuesday (November 10).
Complex case behind the write-off
A council officer explained: "This [figure] is largely due to a single complex case related to parking spaces at Victoria car park in Salford Quays. This case has remained unresolved for many years because the parking spaces weren't clearly identified within the rating list and it wasn't possible to establish with certainty who the occupiers were."
The town hall dedicated a 'significant amount of officer time to resolving the issue' between 2012 and 2022, and was ultimately able to produce 'detailed plans' after 10 years.
Debt deemed irrecoverable
The officer added: "But, unfortunately, by the time the historic liability issues were resolved, it was no longer able to recover any of those liabilities. The debt must therefore be treated as irrecoverable. Importantly, I want to provide reassurance the issue has now been resolved."
Councillor Phil Cusack, lead member for corporate services, described the case as a 'very regrettable situation' that has come at 'significant' cost to the council.
Other debts written off
The remaining debts include a further £1,960,927 of irretrievable business rate debts and £1,822,765 of uncollected council tax payments. The business debts consist of 168 cases, with some lying as far back as 2012. They typically concern cases where businesses became insolvent, owners absconded, or the debts were considered 'uneconomical' to pursue. In 19 cases, the debts have been written off as it took too long to recover the debts – amounting to more than £2 million.
The total figure of more than £5.7 million comes as the council prepares work on its budget papers. The local authority's most recently published financial documents predicted an overspend of around £6.6 million despite the use of £21 million of reserves and underspending from other areas. The gap is largely due to overspending on children's and adult social care.
