A council has warned significant disruption to "daily incomes flows" may continue as it plots its financial recovery from Covid-19.

Dartford council leader Jeremy Kite met with cabinet colleagues this afternoon to discuss the ongoing impact of the virus on the council's purse strings.

The Covid-19 crisis has driven a hole in the authorities' finances with it reporting earlier this month it had lost close to £700,000 after car parks and leisure services shut.

Despite this Cllr Kite said the council was in good shape financially and were forging ahead with exciting capital projects and town improvement works.

The Tory said: "With regard to our financial position I think it is testament to the stability of the council and the way it has been run.

"Some councils are very exciting and they do lots of things that seem explosive. We tend to run things which frankly tend to be stable and secure."

It comes after a new report was prepared which projected losses to the general fund and other sources in excess of £2 million.

"Some councils are very exciting and they do lots of things that seem explosive."

The document read: "The core assumption used in this report is that COVID-19 will cause significant disruption to ‘daily’ income flows for the period April to July for items such as parking and building control income."

It went on to project further disruption and a "sustained reduction in economic activities" in other areas.

This includes the loss of revenue generated from leisure centres which were delivered a devastating blow on Tuesday when the government blocked their return.

In fact, the highest impact on income to Dartford Council is expected to be the current closure of Fairfield Leisure Centre in Lowfield Street.

The sports venue and gym was shut at short notice on March 20 as the lockdown came into effect and had anticipated to be reopen by July.

Its contract with the council provides for a management fee of £605,000 to be paid each year.

However, due to the financial impact of the closure and the anticipated social distancing measures which will need to be in place when it is allowed to reopen the council forecasts there will be no management fee income in 2020/21.

A loss of parking fees has also impacted on the council's budgeting.

In total, it is forecasting a loss of £350,000 for the period April to June with ongoing effect.

Planning and development income reductions are also to be expected with a lack of confidence it says likely to lead to a further £418,000 in losses to council projects.

Other significant areas of lost income streams include its recently reopened markets (£177,500), and commercial/community rents (£420,000).

Cllr Andy Lloyd (Con), who oversees the council's finances, said: "When we came into this crisis the one thing we knew was that we could do what we needed for the residents and what we needed to do to keep our service."

"This is the rainy day that we have saved for".

He said it was a lot of money they have both spent and lost but "this is the rainy day that we have saved for".

"Hopefully there will not be another rainy day and we will weather it through," he added.

The council is responsible for supporting those who need to shield as designated by the NHS or who are otherwise vulnerable or facing a genuine food emergency.

A community hub has been set up and resourced by staff to provide this support.

Since the start of the hub on June 3, 472 food parcels have been delivered to those in a food emergency who have no friends or family supporting them.

The council says it is difficult to know when this support will no longer be required but has projected costs of these food parcels in the region of £40,000.

Cllr Kite conceded while they were not "out of the woods" it was important to keep support schemes such as these in place.

He said "we don't want there to be a cliff edge," adding to pull away the support without warning would risk a more harmful long term impact.

The council leader went on to say there was an emotional effect to all this as with more people returning to work, similarly there would be many still not working at home.

"We don't want to leave anyone behind," he added. "Our message to them is we are still there."

In addition to budget shortfalls the council is also predicting there to be increased expenditure in certain areas as it seeks to make businesses and public spaces safe again.

The council has set aside £65,000 to deal with the cost of deep cleaning of the civic centre and is expected to have to bankroll £91,000 to source personal protective equipment for staff undertaking site visits or carrying out enforcement activity.

Currently the estimated costs of delays and safer workspace arrangements for the council’s capital projects is estimated at around £197,000.

Dartford council has received government funding of £1,125,220 for Coronavirus costs but this does not cover the loss of income or collection fund losses.

Local authorities are submitting regular data to government on costs and its funding offer is currently under review.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel says Cllr Kite as Dartford's markets traders returned to work this month and other businesses spring back into action.

He hastened to add the council would be taking a cautious approach during its recovery.

"I'm sorry if you feel we are doing it a bit slow but we are doing it safely," he said. "Hopefully so we don't have to close it."

He pleaded with residents to support small individual traders who had suffered a torrid time during the pandemic.

"The best thing we can all do now is put our custom in them – please come back to Dartford we are back in business."

Read more: All the latest news from Dartford