Sefton council cuts highway maintenance budget by 15% - putting motorists and cyclists at risk

Those expecting immediate action on Sefton's mounting backlog of potholed roads are likely to be disappointed. Sefton Council has just chosen at its budget meeting this week to cut its Highway Maintenance Budget by 15 %. It's now spending significantly less than it did when the decade started even though tarmac and construction costs have rocketed. 

Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw, has criticised Labour-run Sefton’s decision.

This spells real danger, he says, exposing motorists and cyclists to greater risk and the council to litigation. A recent survey of UK cyclists has found that 21 per cent have been involved in an accident because of a pothole. 

“This is simply the wrong choice”, states Cllr Shaw. “ To add insult to injury the public are being asked this year to pay more for parking as well. That money that will be used to help partially offset the huge council imposed cut.”

It’s going to be a bumpy ride for all of us and could mean further delays for those residents in roads who were already waiting for the council contractors to come. 

No-one pretends that councils are flush with cash, but this is a council that has chosen to pay £1.7m loan charges every year for its foolish purchase of the loss making Bootle Strand shopping centre.

Not all the new money and expenditure in this year's budget is a simple consequence of increased demand and energy prices. Some of it is used to address failures in some departments that have let costs run out of control. The Highway’s Department and the road user though is yet again-almost literally- the fall guy for those failures."