Construction on a controversial city centre bus hub has started - just days after a major revamp of bus routes in and out of the city centre was announced.
Work on the hub, on Old Haymarket, is expected to be completed by mid-December, with signs placed on the site saying construction is starting today (Monday).
It is part of a much wider plan that councillors say will make the city centre more attractive, less congested and less polluted.
But neighbouring residents have complained that it will increase noise and traffic in their area while some business have said the plans could threaten their very survival.
The hub was approved by planners earlier this year despite angry protests, with cabinet member James Noakes saying it is an essential part of the Liverpool City Centre Connectivity Scheme , a £47m plan to try to improve how traffic moves through the city.
He said that without the bus hub other major changes to the city centre , like reducing the number of lanes on the Strand and severing Lime Street, cannot happen.
Councillor Noakes said: “Its function as a layover will remove thousands of unnecessary miles off our roads, reducing congestion in the city centre and cutting more than 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
“As well as helping to make traffic flow more efficiently - alongside the other changes in the city centre connectivity programme - the real long term benefit is the improvement to our overall air quality for the city and our efforts in tackling the climate crisis.
“ Liverpool city centre has undergone a huge transformation over the past 20 years but our transport network has hardly changed. The bus hub is key to making the radical changes necessary to ensure how we travel around the city centre works for the next 20 years - to the benefit of us all and the environment."
Last week Merseytravel announced plans to overhaul almost half the bus routes in and out of the city centre as part of the city centre connectivity scheme - but they have been met with a backlash from some commuters.
The plans would see the vast majority of buses terminate at either Queens Square or Liverpool One bus stations, with a shuttle service then moving people across the centre.
