Liverpool Council takes back control of highways

Liverpool City Council has ended its contract with Amey and taken back control of looking after the city’s highways, in a further bid to bring services back ‘in house’.

Following council moves to bring parks services, street cleansing, bin collections, IT and HR and Payroll services all back ‘in house’, the council estimates it will save £0.75 million by taking control of the highways contract which it aims to reinvest into repairing potholes and new alleygates.

Ann O’Byrne, Deputy Mayor of Liverpool, said: “The sheer depth of government cuts has forced us to look at every single penny we spend to ensure not just value for money but to help protect the vulnerable as much as we possibly can. We believe more can be achieved by bringing the operations back in house.

“We have seen with other services such as street cleansing and refuse collections that insourcing can deliver savings which can be reinvested to make our money go even further. Anyone who travels by car or bike through Liverpool knows the city has a pothole issue and the council is doing all it can. Unfortunately this issue is a double whammy because while we are investing £93 million in repairs the government are putting in just £18 million. The Mayor has already written to the Minister highlighting this lack of investment and we will continue to make the point especially while London receives an inordinate amount of transport investment compared to northern cities like ourselves.”