A South Liverpool housing site that is costing the city council millions of pounds before even a single property is built is an example of “airy fairy” ideas that need to be reigned in, according to the council’s opposition leader.
Cash-strapped Liverpool Council is expected to fork out an additional £7m on the development of Festival Gardens where costs will rise to £60m before work on building any homes has even begun. Remediation work at the contaminated Festival Gardens site in the south of the city is already budgeted to cost a staggering £52 million before a housing developer even moves in to start building homes - but a new report shows costs have spiralled significantly beyond this.
Cllr Richard Kemp, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, told a meeting of the authority’s audit committee his "real concern is that the project got off to a bad start" and everything since has been an attempt to recover from it. Chris Ridland, council planning officer said excavation and remediation on site is "90% complete" and should be finished by Spring.
