Liverpool Lime Street revamp delays leave businesses 'paying price'

Work on Lime Street and St George's Plateau was due to be completed in December 2021

Delays to work on one of Liverpool's main roads have left businesses "paying a price", the chief executive of a representative body has said.

The Lime Street and St George's Plateau revamp, which began in October 2020, stalled after the scheme's contractors went into administration a year later.

The city council has said the scheme will now change when work restarts.

Liverpool BID Company's Bill Addy said the prospect of facing further delays was "disheartening and discouraging".

The work, which was originally due to be completed in December 2021, is part of a £47m city centre connectivity scheme which the council has said is designed to make Liverpool "cleaner and greener".

The initial scheme saw Lime Street reduced to a single lane of traffic in each direction, with a cycle lane and wider pavement added, St George's Plateau extended and the removal of access for buses at Brownlow Hill.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the scheme would be changed, after concerns were raised about buses not being connected to the city's railway station, a situation that Liverpool's Mayor Joanne Anderson said was "bizarre".

The plans also included a new water feature at the northern end of St George's Hall, but the new proposals will see the reconnection of the Victorian Steble Fountain at the southern end of the Grade I listed venue.

Ms Anderson told BBC Radio Merseyside that once the works were completed, the city centre would have "a gateway it can be proud of".

'Vastly improved communication'

Mr Addy said his organisation had "worked tirelessly to support city centre business, across retail, hospitality and culture to weather the storm of the past two years, but that they have to face another six months of disruption is disheartening and discouraging".

"While disruption continues, business is paying a price," he said.

"There is confusion for people trying to get in and out of the city centre [and] the pathways are not accessible.

"The main gateway to the city is a building site and that impacts on confidence."

Mr Addy said businesses needed "clarity from the council and we need determination that when decisions are made, they are stuck to".

He added that there also needed to be "vastly improved communication" from the council, "so that when street closures and developments take place, businesses are told and can prepare for it".

It is understood that there were issues with the original contractor and their communication with all parties involved in the scheme.

The council's cabinet member for environment, Dan Barrington, previously said the scheme had "generated quite a few problems, not least the collapse of the original contractor and we apologise for the delays and disruption this has caused".