LONG-standing plans to add a gym and fitness studio to Studley Leisure Centre have been scrapped as council chiefs look to balance the books in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Hopes for a second business centre workshop which had looked destined for either Studley or Southam have also been shelved and the original Venture House centre, in Stratford, also faces an uncertain future.

The leader of Stratford District Council, Cllr Tony Jefferson outlined the financial problems facing the council during a cabinet meeting to debate the budget and five-year strategy this week.

He said: “I think it is important that we all understand fully the background to the creation of this medium term financial strategy.

“One of the main influencing factors in this has been the impact of Covid-19 and over the medium term financial strategy period, this has estimated to have cost this council £7.5m. In the context of the scale of our operations that is a very significant sum. That has made it important that we identify savings that need to be made.”

He added that services would be maintained in 2021/22 but admitted: “We have already taken action to reduce costs and some tough decisions have been taken.”

The decision to scrap Studley’s gym and the business centre workshop will save the council £1.1m and further savings will come from the scrapping of council posts and the joint working with neighbours Warwick District Council.

Alcester Town Cllr Susan Juned argued that services had not survived intact.

She asked: “If there is improved provision from government, would you relook at some of the cuts that have been made? You said there were no cuts to services but there are because the parking permit for pensioners is a cut to a service.

But Cllr Trevor Harvey, the council’s portfolio holder for finance, countered: “The service we provide is parking and we are providing as much parking next year as we did last year. The change we are proposing is a question of the terms on which we provide that service, not the service itself.

“We will not be curing services that we supply to residents and I think that is quite an achievement given the financial pressures.

“We have filled the gap in the current year’s finances by drawing on three sources: We have moved around reserves, we have saved costs in various innovative and imaginative ways; and we are going to increase revenue from charges and council tax.”

The draft budget will now go out for consultation with the public, local businesses and the council’s own overview and scrutiny committee.