Liverpool City Council to borrow £185m for road repairs

Potholes will be fixed as part of the £200m repair plan, the council said

Liverpool City Council plans to borrow £185m to fund a programme of road repairs and pothole fixing.

A report outlining a plan to invest £200m in reconstruction and resurfacing the city's roads will be discussed at the council's cabinet on Friday.

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said it was "a response to the scale of the problem we face".

Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Kemp said authority borrowing was "a huge burden" on the city's taxpayers.

The council said the majority of the money will come from borrowing £185m over 25 years at low interests rates from the Public Works Loans Board, with the rest from savings generated by commercialising council assets.

'Worsening situation'

An authority spokesman said it has borrowed before for road repairs but has usually paid for them through capital receipts and revenue spend in the annual budget.

He said the new plan was "aimed at tacking the deteriorating quality of the highways network" and would see £160m spent on road reconstruction over the next five years, £25m on resurfacing and patching work and £15m on potholes.

Mr Anderson said the investment would "radically transform the quality" of the road network.

Mr Kemp said it would take the council's total borrowing "up to about £900 million or £4,000 per household", adding: "Any money must be properly spent on sustainable long-lasting repairs [or people] will have both the debt and the potholes."

Green Party councillor Tom Crone said he agreed the "worsening situation with potholes" should be addressed but added he was "concerned" money for road reconstruction "will not be spent wisely".

He said similar recent works "have been designed for ever-increasing traffic volumes" and he prefer traffic calming measures and promotion of public transport, walking and cycling.

Liberal Party councillor Steve Radford said the investment was "more than welcome" and will "reduce risk to the public", but said all parts of the community should benefit from road development.