£5m from Municipal Building sale to fix city’s worst roads

Some of the cash raised from the sale of the historic Municipal Building in Liverpool, bought in February by a Singapore-based luxury hotel developer for £10.2m, will be used to blitz pothole problems on the city’s roads.

Liverpool City Council says it is set to invest a further £5m into fixing potholes, having already invested £3m this year and £88m since 2014 to repair the city’s highways and footpaths.

However, it said it faces a £439m backlog across 14,000 carriageways and 20,000 foot paths.

A report to the council’s cabinet next Friday is recommending half of the proceeds from Municipal Building be used to repair potholes.

The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson says he has written to the Department of Transport demanding an “urgent review” of funding, saying Government contributions since 2014 have amounted to £17.6m.

Anderson 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.

“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.

“We will keep lobbying Whitehall to secure more funding, but in the meantime we have to do what we can because otherwise the poor condition of our roads could cause a serious accident.”
The Grade II listed Municipal Building was sold Fragrance Group as part of a council review of its buildings which saw Liverpool city council staff relocate to the Cunard Building.