Cardiff taxpayers are over £1m out of pocket as a Doctor Who exhibition fails to attract visitors.

In 2011 Cardiff council reached a deal with BBC Worldwide to provide accommodation for the Doctor Who Experience on a site the council leased from the Welsh government.

BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm of the BBC.

The city council spent £2.4m on the building and planned to recoup the cost through a share of ticket sales during the centre's five-year lease.

However, the exhibition, which opened in 2012, had not received enough visitors for the council to cover its cost by the time the lease expired last year.

‘In 2011 when the deal was done to subsidise the Doctor Who attraction in order to bring it to Cardiff, the then administration worked on the basis of ambitious projections for visitor numbers,’ said cabinet member for investment and development, Cllr Russell Goodway.

‘Unfortunately the projected visitor numbers failed to materialise leaving the shortfall which should have been made up in ticket sales.

‘This has left the council having to make up the £1.1m which will have to be absorbed by the council’s budget.’

Cllr Russell Goodway added the council was working on plans for the building with the Welsh government but nothing was finalised.

Image: Phillip Maguire / Shutterstock.com.