More than £1.6m is shown in Dorchester Town Council reserve funds – all of it identified for future spending plans, apart from £100.000 for "unforeseen events and opportunities".

The amount is £275,600 higher than the budget set in January.

Among the larger sums is £400,000 for improvement to the Cornhill, at the northern end of South Street which the town council says has been delayed because of uncertainty over the Dorset Council position and its contribution to the project.

Other figures include a range of payments for cemeteries, including the Poundbury cemetery wall where work has been delayed for further consideration and climate emergency projects which have yet to come to fruition.

Also shown is almost £70,000 for planned equipment and vehicles replacement, where the council has been replacing those which use petrol or diesel with electric; £47,300 for refurbishing buildings in the council-run parks; £28,500 for replacing ageing playground equipment and £3,600 for new Christmas lights. A sum of £6,000 is also shown as the cost of the process for replacing town clerk Adrian Stuart, who is expected to retire this year.

A report to councillors shows that the authority's revenue budget finished the financial year £18,000 below estimates, mainly from delays in replacing outdoor staff and by not having to run some events because of Covid restrictions.