LIB DEMS WARN OF £4.4 MILLION LOSS ON COUNCIL'S BOOTLE STRAND SHOPPING CENTRE

With Sefton Council meeting tonight (Thursday 4 March) for its annual Budget meeting, local Lib Dem leader councillor John Pugh has revealed that the losses on Sefton Council's controversial Bootle Strand Shopping Centre are worse than previously reported.

The Shopping Centre was bought nearly 4 years ago over strong Lib Dem opposition by Labour-controlled Sefton Council for £33 million. It was valued in 2020 as worth £21M having lost a third of its value in 4 years.

"Three weeks ago,” says Cllr Pugh, "we revealed that it was expected to cost council tax payers £1.5 million a year in losses."

However, it has now become clear that Council Finance bosses expect the Centre to lose around £4.4 million over the 2 year period to March 2022.

"As we in the Lib Dems warned from the very start, losses on the Council’s property speculation can only come from one place, and that is local council tax payers", said Councillor Pugh.

"This staggering loss of £4.4 million was obviously never budgeted for and it is a massive burden on hard-pressed residents."

"In fact, without this loss the rise in the council tax could have been kept under 2% rather than the inflation-busting 5% that Sefton Council are planning."

Back in 2017, when Sefton Council bought it, the Labour administration claimed that the Centre would "more than cover" its costs "leaving money left over to contribute to much needed local services."

However, this proved over time not to be the case, as Councillor Pugh explains in a recently issued video

https://vimeo.com/manage/513944922/general

https://www.qlocal.co.uk/southport/n...e-55049595.htm

This isn’t just a re-branding exercise”, says Cllr Pugh, " In a post Covid age there’s a wholly understandable weariness with point scoring party politics,and party labels and branding can be as much an obstacle as a help in getting constructive outcomes."

....well, that lasted long.

I wonder what would have been the position if COVID hadn't happened. No one could have foreseen this but it appears that John Pugh thinks that they should have done.

Covid just made a bad decision worse.

Don't let Labour anywhere near your money they are inept.

Thank goodness people saw through the Corbyn fools proposals at a national level.

Originally Posted by local

Don't let Labour anywhere near your money they are inept.

Just let the Tories steal it instead.