23.04.18
Council to borrow nearly £200m to fix roads
Liverpool City Council is set to invest almost £200m in improving the city’s roads.
The cash strapped city council has agreed to borrow £185m at low interest rates to fund the programme over a 25-year period after government cuts have left it unable to deal with a backlog of repair works.
The rest is being raised by savings produced by the council’s transformation plan and commercialisation of council assets as part of its ‘Invest to Earn’ plan.
£160m will go on road reconstruction in the next five years, £25 in resurfacing and patching work and £15m will be set aside specifically for tackling potholes.
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “I drive on the same roads as everyone else, so there is no-one more aware of the problem that me. This major new investment in our highways - £200million - is a response to the scale of the problem we face.
“The people of Liverpool can be assured that we have been lobbying the government consistently in recent years to help us fix the problem, but it’s clear from the Chancellor’s recent spring statement there is no reprieve from the Government’s austerity programme.”
He added: “We cannot wait for help to arrive, so I have decided that we will take action to address the problem of potholes and poor road surfaces with this major new investment, which will radically transform the quality of our road network across the city.
“This investment is also good news because it will create jobs in the city as well as generating new apprenticeship opportunities.
The mayor concluded: “Ultimately, doing nothing is just not an option as far as I am concerned. Clearly, the deteriorating state of our roads is a national problem, but to do nothing in Liverpool will simply see the cost of fixing our roads soar in future years. This is why we must act now.”