MILLIONS of pounds of council money that should have been spent on big projects like the Community Stadium this year are being pushed back, because of building delays.

The Community Stadium, and the York Central brownfield development site, both had investment money set aside in City of York Council’s 2016/17 budget, but the sums are being transferred into future year’s budgets because the planned work has not been done.

Overall, capital spending on investments and one-off projects was £16 million less than it should have been in 2016/17, finance documents show.

A report given to ruling councillors this week shows that large sums are being “re-profiled” from 2016/17 budgets to future years, something finance managers say “reflects the scale of the capital programme” and “a number of major complex projects”.

In 2016/17, almost £1 million was spent on the Community Stadium scheme, the report says. Builders ISG pulled out of the project and the council has had to go back out to tender to find a new contractor, and the report shows finance bosses do not expect large chunks of the project’s funding to be spent for at least another year.

Almost £20 million of the stadium’s budget is being pushed from the 2017/18 financial year into 2018/19 - something the report says reflects “the anticipated future capital budget profile”.

Councillors were also warned of the risks the authority faces if big projects like the stadium fall through.

Ian Floyd, finance director, urged them to keep £542,000 left over from general budgets last year in reserve, to guard against the risk that projects fall through and leave the council with big bills. Mr Floyd also said that the tricky financial position health bodies are in means the council needs to keep some money aside.

The York Central scheme will need £3.5 million pushing from last year’s budget to this year’s - in part because the Homes and Communities Agency funded the purchase of some land in November last year.

The Mansion House, however, has needed extra work on fire safety, stabilisation and conservation work on the State Room ceiling - meaning that money intended for the 2017/ 18 budget had to be spent in 2016/17 and the project needs £150,000 in extra cash from contingency funds.