A Gloucestershire council could be facing debts of £2.5million if the Government doesn’t give any more money to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, according to a council document.

Cotswold District Council lost income of £428,000 up to April 30 and predicts it will miss out on £2.8m by the end of the financial year in March 2021, the district council report said.

And further costs such as keeping leisure and cultural services going with little income and providing accommodation for homeless people as a result of the crisis is forecast to total £548,000 next year.

The Government sent £941,887 across March and April to support the authority during the pandemic – but a report says the package reduces its debt to £2.5m forecast by the end of March 2021.

The majority of lost income is expected be from car parking totalling £1,765,000 by the end of next year, the report said.

The Cotswold District Council document said: “The overall financial impact to the council for April 2020 taking into account additional costs in 1.7 and lost income in 1.8 is therefore around £0.5million and forecast impact for the rest of the financial year is around £3.4 million.

“To date, the council has received two tranches of additional funding from Government – £33,080 in March 2020, and £908,807 in April 2020.

“If no further funding is made available from Government, the forecast net financial impact to the council in 2020/21 will be £2.5 million.”

Cllr Richard Morgan, leader of the opposition Conservative group said: "When the Liberal Democrats took control of CDC in May 2019 they inherited cash reserves of £13.2 million, property investments of £7.5 million and financial market investments of £12.5 million.

"The council was debt free, had the 11th lowest district council tax in the country and was consistently under budget year on year.

"Since the Covid-19 outbreak started the government has given the authority an extra additional generous payment of £941,887 to support the council through a period of lost income, that's the equivalent of two months funding for CDC.

"The council has solid financial foundations and thanks to previous administrations, has plenty of cash in reserve to maintain current levels of service."