Liverpool City Council has a “long way to go” to rebuild trust, according to Mayor Joanne Anderson.
Speaking in her Christmas and New Year message, the Mayor reflected on her first six months in the role - much of which has been shaped by outstanding political controversy and the continuing challenges of the pandemic.
When she was elected back in May as the UK’s first black female city mayor, Liverpool was still reeling from the seismic findings of Max Caller’s Best Value Inspection report.
READ MORE: Live updates on lockdown options and Boris Johnson announcement
Following the arrest of previous Mayor Joe Anderson in December 2020, then-Communities and Local Government secretary Robert Jenrick ordered a full report on Liverpool City Council which revealed a 'deeply worrying' picture of a council with a 'dysfunctional culture of intimidation'.
Mr Anderson has strongly denied wrongdoing in the face of his arrest last December on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.
The report has since resulted in government appointed commissioners overseeing a number of departments within the city council, including highways and regeneration.
Speaking to the ECHO back in October, Mayor Joanne Anderson outlined how she believed her new administration was “cleaning up decades of problems”.
Looking back over the first six months in office, the Mayor struck a similar tone as she pointed towards the work being done to rebuild the trust that was so badly damaged by the findings of the scathing Best Value Inspection report.
She said: “Along with my cabinet, we are determined to work with residents and partner organisations to tackle some of the endemic issues in our city.
“We are determined as an administration to change the culture of the council to one that works with people to ensure that everyone has the chance to succeed – people, planet and equality are my mantra – I want to improve communities, tackle climate change and give everyone an equal footing in life.
“We know there is a long way to go to rebuild trust, to improve the quality of new developments, to rebalance the relationship between cars, pedestrians and bikes on our road network, meet our net zero carbon commitment and embed social value in every decision we make.”
Mayor Anderson added that in 2022, “we will make progress on all fronts” and pointed to a number of high profile projects and continuing practices which are hoping to start 2022 off on the right footing.
This included building on the success of hosting a recent G7 summit by pressing ahead with key projects such as Everton’s new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock, the remediation of the Festival Gardens site for housing development, furthering plans for ‘The Pool’ on Liverpool’s waterfront and aiming to hopefully begin work on the £70m redevelopment of the Littlewoods buildings into film studios.
Plans for the Littlewoods studios are set to go before the audit committee in January in the hope of being signed off on to begin an £8m remediation of the building, partly funded by the City Region Combined Authority.
Mayor Anderson also explained that “we’re nearing the completion” on road works schemes such as Lime Street, The Strand, the A565 and County Road.
Work at Lime Street stalled in October following its then contractor NMCN collapsing into administration and the scheme is currently under review after remedial works were carried out on the site.
A new contractor will hopefully be appointed in the new year with ambitions of completing the project by spring.
Work on County Road is expected to be completed in the new year once workers are back on site from early January.
The latest phase of works at The Strand is expected to begin in spring 2022.
Looking back at the hardship and successes of the year, Mayor Anderson added: “2021 has been a year of highs and lows for Liverpool, as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to bring with it worries and hardship for many in our city throughout the year.
“We experienced great sadness and shock following the murder of young Ava White and the terror attack at Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
“Despite those tough times, we managed to showcase what the city has to offer.”
