Sale of Liverpool’s Municipal Building to fund £5m road improvements

Liverpool City Council has confirmed plans to invest a further £5m into filling potholes across the city, using cash raised from the sale of its Municipal Building.

The authority has already invested £3m in fixing the city’s highways and footpaths this year and £88m since 2014, but faces a £439m backlog across 14k carriageways and 20k footways.

A report to the council’s Cabinet next week (July 21) will recommend that half of the proceeds from Municipal Building are used to fund the repairs.

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson has written to the Department of Transport calling for an urgent review of funding, with Government contributions since 2014 amounting to just £17.6m.

He said: “The amount we get from Government to repair our roads is chickenfeed compared to the amount we need to spend, which is why we’re being forced to receipts from the sale of our assets to fix potholes.

“But we simply have to bring our roads up to standard because otherwise it will mean the network is not fit for purpose, hitting investment and jobs.”

He continued: “Despite a 64% a cut to our budget since 2010, we are spending five times more than the Government in road repairs – and that does not include the £250m we are investing in new roads.

“The private sector are playing their part too through major regeneration projects. Project Jennifer at Great Homer Street and the Edge Lane Retail Park, to name just two, have leveraged £16m investment in our highways.”

Speaking further, Mayor Anderson said the city will continue lobbying Whitehall to secure more funding.

He added: “In the meantime we have to do what we can because otherwise the poor condition of our roads could cause a serious accident.”

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