Liverpool Council faces a £340,000 bill after being forced to implement extra safety measures at a block of flats that were found to have unsafe cladding.
The council ordered a round-the-clock "waking watch" at the Fox Street Village development in Everton last year after ACM cladding in the building was deemed to pose a risk to life.
Liverpool Council put a prohibition order on one of the five blocks at the part-finished development due to fire safety fears, with hundreds of residents warned that they could be forced to leave the site.
Council planning inspectors also sent out enforcement notices over the whole Fox Street Village scheme, consisting of more than 400 apartments, saying they were concerned the whole development was “poorly finished” and failed to meet standards.
The ECHO understands the council then put in place the waking watch from April until November to ensure the safety of residents.
A budget report set to be discussed at the council's cabinet on Friday outlined the huge cost to taxpayers.
A section detailing the reasons for an overspend in the council's community services directorate said: "A cost of £0.341M has been incurred with regards to the emergency work required at the Fox Street Village Ltd. site, following the Prohibition Order issued due to the use of dangerous ACM cladding."
The developers of the site, Fox Street Village Ltd., went out of business in July and in August Business Live revealed that creditors are owed almost £10m.
The report detailing the £341,000 cost to taxpayers of the emergency work at Fox Street comes as Liverpool Council faces the possibility of bankruptcy as the costs of tackling the coronavirus pandemic pile up.
Mayor Joe Anderson warned earlier this year that the council may have to issue a Section 114 notice due to its increased outgoings and a severe squeeze on income.
The notice would immediately halt all new expenditure, with the exception of safeguarding vulnerable people and statutory services.
Councils across the region have also heavily criticised the UK government for reimbursing councils using a funding formula that has resulted in areas with higher deprivation like Merseyside receiving a far lower proportion of their total costs.
