A £46k budget deficit is forecast for the Old Post Office building in Falmouth next year because of fall in income due to the pandemic.

A meeting of Falmouth Town Council’s finance and general purposes committee was told that that they were budgeting for a reduction in income of £20k for the next year.

Coun John Spargo questioned whether this meant that they were giving away space in the building rent free next year for a percentage of the time.

Finance officer Ruth Thomas said this would not be the case.

“We're not proposing to give free rent to any tenants,” she said. “It is the fact that we have lost tenants so that we are also losing income through the loss of bookings for the building.

“So the reduction in rent, councillor Spargo, is directly as a result of the tenants we have lost due to the pandemic and a loss of income.

“Obviously if we get more tenants that won't be an issue.”

The Old Post Office currently houses the town council offices as well as the town manager and BID managers' team.

It is also home to the One Stop Shop in to the building and the registry office.

The ground floor house a reception area and meeting room while on the first floor there are assembly rooms, which are available to hire for weddings and events.

A new conservatory was built out onto the roof at first floor level, providing an extension to the assembly rooms.

The basement houses the Shopmobility scooters and also provide dry and secure storage for some of the town's art collection and there arer other offices available across the whole building for use in-house or for rent.