This financial year, Derby City Council will have to write off £1.45m due to the closure of the Assembly Rooms car park.

When the property was still operating and generating a surplus for the Council it had value which is recognised as an asset in the authority’s balance sheet. Now that it is closed, and generating no revenue, and set for demolition, its book value is significantly reduced.

Contrary to the erroenous reporting in the Derby Telegraph (Derbyshire Live) the car park did not generate an “income” of £400k in the last 12 months. The report failed to recognise, as did Cllr Hassall, the Tory Leader, that there are substantial costs associated with generating that revenue; the most significant being £157k in electricity charges.

In recognition of this loss, the Council included a “pressure” of £194k in its 2024/25 budget. In an FOI response, the Council has stated:

“This however has not been utilised as the parking services overall are on target to achieve their income targets”

This implies that the users of the closed Assembly Rooms car park have successfully found options elsewhere in other Council run facilities…so potentially there has been no “lost revenue” and no reduction in “footfall”.