MP attacks council’s Culture spending

Mar 26 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL has squandered its Capital of Culture cash on unnecessary projects, a Tory front-bencher claimed yesterday.

Chris Grayling, shadow minister for work and pensions and the Conservative’s Merseyside spokesperson, pointed to the Edge Lane West project as an example of misguided investment.

He also revealed the Tories might stage a spring conference at the city’s arena within the near future.

Mr Grayling claimed that much of the £2bn investment the city has attracted since winning the Capital of Culture bid has been frittered away.

He said: “Not nearly enough has been made of the money coming into the city.

“Failing to get the Merseytram off the ground – where are the lasting improvements?” He described the Edge Lane West project – in which more than 350 houses are earmarked for demolition to make way for a widened gateway into Liverpool – as “momentously wrong”.

He added: “They’re spending tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to knock down and clear houses that in other parts of the country would hold premium prices.

“It’s a good example of central government and the city council getting it momentously wrong.

“The fact that they are pressing on now is a mistake – millions of pounds of regeneration money in a place it doesn’t need to be spent.”

He said a Tory administration would invest the cash in providing improved transport interchanges and bus services.

He went on to criticise the burgeoning number of quangos in the North West, saying they were often “the same people but under a different umbrella”.

Lib-Dem councillor Mike Storey, Liverpool council’s executive member for regeneration, claimed Mr Grayling was “talking out of his backside”.

He added: “It’s little wonder that Conservatives have no MPs in Liverpool with that attitude.

“We have seen record levels of investment and record numbers of tourists in the city – when his party was in power, there was no investment and the city suffered considerably.

“Capital of Culture is all about creating jobs and investment.”

Mr Grayling was campaigning in Woolton ahead of the council elections in May.

On the possibility of Liverpool hosting his party’s spring conference, as Gateshead did this year, he said: “I would like to see our spring conference come here as soon as possible – though they are booked three or four years in advance.”

He also said if the Conservatives held the balance of power in Liverpool council after the May elections they would push for significant improve- ments in the Town Hall’s finances.

Another priority would be to do more to combat crime and disorder.

Referring to the council’s recent efforts to fill a £60m funding black hole with a tax hike and job cuts, he said: “It’s not as rigorous as it could be. Sometimes it just requires fresh thinking.”

He admitted the Conservatives faced an uphill struggle to win votes in the city because they were starting from such a low ebb.

benschofield@dailypost.co.uk