Passengers using Newquay airport may have to pay an additional £10 fee on top of the price of their flights in order to stop Cornwall Council going bankrupt.

The council, which has a predicted shortfall of over £100 million next year, needs to find an immediate £9m saving to balance the books in next year’s budget.

In February the council stated there would be a £67m budget gap for 2025/26, which was reduced to £58m after a review of directorates. Following “not necessarily desirable” cuts to various service directorates, savings of £49m have been made, but that means there is still a funding gap of just over £9m.

The net revenue budget for 2025/26 is forecast to be £825m. After council ‘income’ is taken into account, such as council tax (around £417m), a 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes introduced next year (£23.7m), business rates (£273.7m) and government grants (£101m), that leaves the local authority still short to the tune of £9m. The meeting was held to discuss ways in which that amount can be reduced further still.

Following a seven-and-a-half-hour meeting, including a three-hour discussion in private, the committee recommended a number of considerations to help bridge the financial gap.

As well as the possibility of getting rid of “more or all” of its car parks to its own arm’s length company Corserv, the committee suggested a new fee for all Cornwall Airport Newquay passengers aged over 17. They believe a £10 levy on all adult passengers departing the airport could be introduced on April 1, 2025.

The recommendation stated the amount could be introduced as a “carbon reduction fee or whatever description is appropriate”. Passengers were previously charged an airport development fee of £5 each from 2006 until it was abolished in April 2016.

Cornwall Council is currently in the process of finalising a deal to secure a financial partner to help run the airport and develop the 650-acre airport estate, which is currently owned by the local authority. It’s a bid to help the cash-strapped council save money as it currently costs around £4m a year to subsidise the airport.

Other savings the budget scrutiny committee recommended for consideration included adding £3 per year to the cost of an annual subscription for garden waste collection and the possibility of it being paid in instalments for those who may not be able to afford the annual payment in one go.

A suggestion to cut a £18,000 fund for a domestic violence and sexual abuse service was rejected, with the committee suggesting the money should be found from other budgets within the council’s neighbourhoods directorate or from £5m which is earmarked to go into reserves from the 100 per cent council tax premium on second homes when it is introduced next year.

Councillors also asked that adjusting the level of spend associated with net carbon zero projects should also be considered.