Cash strapped Liverpool Council holds assets such as historic books and cut glass chandeliers worth millions of pounds.
As the local authority reels from the impact of covid-19 on its financial outlook, its draft statement of accounts has revealed that the 19th century chandeliers that hang from the ceiling where members debate issues such as the cost of living in Liverpool Town Hall are worth around £1.3m. In addition, in the council’s possession is a £7.5m book by John James Audubon first published between 1827 and 1838, called The Birds of America.
The book contains illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States and is one of the council’s £35m worth of heritage assets. Several of the heritage assets managed by the city council are on long term loan from National Museums Liverpool.
