Row erupts over £5.6million Netherton Activity centre cost

Jan 14 2010 by John Siddle, Bootle Times

Netherton Activity Centre

A WAR of words has broken out between councillors over the £5.6m rebuild of Netherton Activity Centre.

Sefton’s Liberal Democrats say the project – which will see the creation of a state-of-the-art facility on Glovers Lane – is too costly given the council’s urgent need to save £25m over three years

Party leaders voted against committing to the scheme last month but were outvoted by Labour and Conservative councillors.

The Liberal Democrats had recommended using £150k of the savings to open a temporary library facility in Southport, where the main library is being refurbished at a cost to the council taxpayer of £8m.

Labour leader Peter Dowd attacked the group as “unprincipled and hypocritical”.

He stormed: “If we cannot afford a £5m development in Netherton, how can the council taxpayer afford to provide £8m for an Arts Centre refurbishment in Southport?

“I am afraid the Liberal Democrats once again are showing themselves in their true colours which appears to be ‘do as we say and not as we do’.

“Labour wants the best for residents of all parts of Sefton and that is why we supported the Southport development.

“It is a shame the narrow-minded Liberal Democrats don't take the same broad-minded view.”