Councillors disagreed whether funding for cycle lanes across Wirral was “free money” as councillors approved several schemes during a meeting.
A cycle lane in Wallasey will now be reinforced in order to protect cyclists according to councillors who voted the scheme through.
The cycle lane, on Bayswater Road, will be turned from a “voluntary” into a “mandatory” cycle lane in order “enhance the existing cycle lane” using wand orca barriers to separate cyclists from traffic.
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The proposal was opposed by all four Conservative councillors on Wirral Council’s environment and transport committee over rising costs to the scheme driven by inflationary pressures and parking issues it may cause.
However the plans were fiercely defended by councillors from Labour, Greens and the Liberal Democrats, with Cllr Steve Foulkes accusing Conservative councillors of “sending £710m back to government.”
Funding for the cycle lane will come from £710m successfully bidded by the Liverpool City Region from the UK Government to invest in transports across the region and in particular link up existing cycle routes and walkways across Wirral.
The Bayswater Road cycle lane will cost £181,000, up from £70,000 with money moved from another scheme. It will not come out of the council’s budget.
Cllr Liz Grey, the chair of the Environment and Transport committee, said: “To repeat, this is already a cycle lane and we are making it a safe cycle lane using free money from the government and not for anything else.”
This prompted Cllr Leah Fraser to argue it wasn’t free money but taxpayer’s money. Cllr Grey responded: “Well it is. If we don’t use it, then it goes away. It is not costing our taxpayers anything new.
“It’s money that we’re being offered. We’re not allowed to spend it on anything else. Does anyone else have anything constructive to say?”
Cllr Fraser responded: “You were quite keen to tell me earlier that we were at the Environment, Climate Change, and Transport committee earlier but I get the feeling that I am at a Tory bashing political meeting.”
Conservative Vida Wilson said she was concerned about people being able to park, adding, “People cannot get their cars off the road and park in their driveways. There are some people that can’t park other than on the road.” Officers said there were spaces in the area that people could use.
Cllr Andrew Gardner also expressed concern over the costs of the scheme but Cllr Grey said that while these questions “do need to be asked”, the government would have to approve any scheme as “good value for money.”
At the meeting, councillors unanimously agreed to pass funding to support regeneration projects in Birkenhead and changes to Conway Street and Europa Boulevard to create new walkways and cycle lanes.
Before the meeting, dozens of protesters were gathered outside Wallasey Town Hall from the Hoylake Beach Community regarding the consultation done over the summer on the future management of the beach.
Two questions were asked on the issue. In response to Charlotte Smith, Cllr Grey said that 3,000 responses were received as part of the process and will be discussed at a future meeting.
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