LIVERPOOL council’s new leader Cllr Joe Anderson last night called for a summit of the city region’s top public and private sector figures to discuss £2bn-worth of major schemes that could be scrapped by the coalition Government.

The Labour leader will today write to his counterparts across Merseyside to convene an urgent meeting.

Rod Holmes, chairman of tourism and investment agency The Mersey Partnership, will table an urgent item on the subject at a meeting of its economic board today.

It follows a frantic day of activity as the full scale of the threat of the government review of major projects became apparent.

The coalition is reviewing all projects given permission since January.

Liverpool’s £350m secondary school rebuilding programme has been given approval, but final contracts have not yet been signed, leaving it vulnerable.

The long- awaited Edge Lane widening project is under threat, after having received approval for £19m of spending from the Department for Transport (DfT) in March.

Sefton Council has been warned by the DfT that, if it continues to spend money on developing its plans for the £21m Thornton bypass, it does so “at its own risk”.

The DfT last night said it was unable to give any guarantees about the £436m Mersey Gateway to provide a second bridge across the river between Runcorn and Widnes. It had been due to get final approval in July.

A DfT spokesman said he was unable to give a definite timescale for when decisions would be reached on individual schemes.

A catalogue of rail schemes is also under threat, including the upgrade of Liverpool’s Central Station.

Chancellor George Osborne will on Monday announce that large-scale capital transport projects agreed by the last Labour administration will be “reconsidered” in the weeks ahead.

The £100m electrification of the line to Manchester is under threat, as is the £530m “Northern Hub” project to remove bottlenecks around Merseyside and Manchester to boost train numbers by 40%. It would also provide Liverpool with its first direct link with Bradford and Halifax, and slash by 40 minutes journey times to Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle.

As the Daily Post reported yesterday, plans to rebuild the Royal Liverpool Hospital in a £451m scheme could also be dropped.

Cllr Anderson said: “It would be devastating for Merseyside if these schemes are scrapped. We need a concerted lobbying campaign to make sure these projects go ahead and continue the renaissance of Liverpool and the region.”

He said he hoped a summit could be held as soon as possible and that Chambers of Commerce would also be invited.

“It’s a question of getting in there early because other parts of the country are also going to be fighting for funding.”