Shropshire Council’s cabinet member responsible for finance, Councilor Gwilym Butler, presented a report on the latest position at today’s cabinet meeting.

He told members the authority currently predicts it will end the financial year £35.1m over budget.

The estimate is the “most likely” outcome, according to Cllr Butler, although the best-case scenario could see the overspend reduced to £19.7m – but the worst-case scenario could rise to £74.6m sterling.

The meeting was told that the sale of the council’s assets – including its car parks, as agreed earlier this year, is being factored into plans to generate £34m for the council.

If these plans do not go ahead, then the total could be added to the estimated overspend of £35.1m.