Put the community money, into our communities, say Lib Dems
Developers pay what is called S.106 Money to councils as part of the agreement for the planning permission to build their development. The money is set aside to improve their area for example by either building or updating playgrounds and green spaces or improving local roads, with crossings and traffic lights.
The Lib Dems claim Labour have sat on millions of pounds of community money, meaning that many communities have lost out. Road improvements, pedestrian crossings, and new play parks have never happened because Labour couldn’t be bothered to spend it.
Further, the Lib Dems have called for greater transparency over the S.106 money arguing for it to be publicly available. They said that “if Labour has nothing to hide, they’ll make it publicly available” but if they won’t it raises serious concerns about how things have improved since the Anderson era.
Cllr Andrew Makinson, the Lib Dems Shadow Cabinet member for Finance and Council Honesty said “This money belongs to the people of the city. It has lost substantial value due to inflation but it’s time to give back to them. Being honest with the public about what the council has, what it’s being spent on, and when it’s spent is important. With the scandals about dodgy development deals, we need to restore trust with the public.”
Cllr Carl Cashman said, “Some of this money was given to Liverpool City Council, when I was still in secondary school - that’s mad. I don’t know how this has been allowed to happen but it seems like somewhere down the line a deliberate decision by Labour was made to not spend this money - that’s the only thing I can assume. We want this money to be spent where it belongs, in our communities.”
Highways issues are a huge concern to residents and the Lib Dems are putting this at the forefront of their campaign, calling for dedicated parking wardens. They hope to end Labour’s 27 year unbeaten streak in Liverpool on January 23rd.