Multi-million pound capital projects across Canterbury could be long-delayed or even axed as the council faces a "financial tsunami" in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

The brakes have already been put on plans to transform the city's high street, extend the Wincheap Park and Ride and upgrade the Kingsmead leisure centre as the authority's vital income streams collapse.

And council leader Rob Thomas has now hinted that a mooted £12 million move to new offices in Wincheap may never happen.

He was speaking exclusively to KentOnline this week by video call alongside the authority's chief executive Colin Carmichael and his deputy Tricia Marshall.

Together they painted a bleak picture of the effect of the pandemic on the council's pursestrings, admitting cuts and reductions in local services are now inevitable.

The authority is already losing £175,000 a week in parking revenue, meaning a government support grant of £82,500 will do little to ease financial woes.

Assessing the predicament, a stoic Mr Carmichael says unpopular decisions will have to be made, but would not be drawn on what they may be.

"We know it's going to be bad, we just don't know how bad," he said.

"But there is no realistic way we can carry on the things we currently do.

"When you start taking away services then its complicated but, on the other hand, we have to balance the budget. There will be unpopular and difficult decisions.

"The problem we have is that only 15% of council tax bill comes to us and the share we get from business rates is likely to fall if businesses close."

The council's budget, only agreed in February, already predicted a looming £3 million shortfall between now and 2023.

It will have to be torn up and a new emergency budget formulated in the coming weeks through virtual meetings among councillors.

At the same time the council estimates forking out hundreds of thousands to provide services like its Covid-19 community hub and accommodation for the homeless.

Cllr Thomas suggested it could see the scrapping of the authority's controversial plan to relocate from its ageing and half-empty Military Road site to environmentally friendly offices in Wincheap.

"The move to new offices was very much about kickstarting Wincheap, and the carbon-neutral aspect was easier through a new build," he said.

"But we are going to have to fundamentally ask again whether we need new headquarters and look at how the homeworking has panned out during this process.

"We will have to rethink what we do moving forward, not least because of the financial pressure."

The council directly employs about 450 staff at a cost of £14 million a year.

Most are still working in their usual jobs while others have been deployed to new roles, largely in the new council-led community hub, for example.

They include some traffic wardens, while others are still employed with on-street parking enforcement and other highway regulations.

Environment health and licensing staff are now tasked with ensuring businesses across the district are not flouting lockdown regulations.

Mr Carmichael admits a small number of employees may be furloughed if their jobs are not required at present, but says redundancies are not yet being considered.

"The tactic is to hold right back on expenditure now and assess the position as the year goes by to take longer term decisions," he said.

"We don't want to leap into redundancies now without having a better idea of what the scale of the problem is."

Mrs Marshall says the authority has been good at finding innovative ways of reducing costs and creating revenue streams in the past, saving £6 million in the last four years.

"Post-lockdown, generating income will be far more difficult as nobody knows how quickly the economy will recover or what it will look like when it does," she said.

"It is going to be incredibly challenging but I am certain councillors, officers and everyone we serve can rise to that challenge."

Read more: All the latest news from Canterbury