Expenditure programme for next year is over £52m
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HALTON Borough Council plans to spend more than £52m over the next year on schemes across Runcorn and Widnes.
The local authority has detailed what it intends to commit to sites in both towns during the current financial year.
A Capital Programme for the current year was approved in March, but further reports regarding expenditure have since been come to light, as well as grants received and projects rolled over from 201819 to the current 12 months.
A report prepared for a Full Council meeting has now outlined where funds are due to be allocated.
The maintenance scheme for the Silver Jubilee Bridge, which is due to re-open, will cost nearly £4.4m, with a further £600,000 for the deck reconfiguration. The crossing – which closed when the Mersey Gateway opened in 2017 – will be changed to one lane of traffic in each direction, with an enlarged area for cyclists and pedestrians.
A total of £1m is committed to developing the Widnes Waterfront area and includes the former Bayer CropScience site off Gorsey Lane.
For the refurbishment of Widnes Market, £140,000 has been set aside, £100,000 spent on an advertising screen at The Hive, and almost £75,000 is due to be spent on various projects at the Halton Stadium, including minor works, the pitch and changes to the Karalius Suite.
Runcorn Town Park is due to benefit to the tune of £553,000 of funding, with £693,000 spent on Sandymoor Playing Fields. In terms of major highways projects, nearly £9m is committed to the delinking project in Runcorn for the Station Quarter, with more than £4.5m going towards the Widnes Loops junction and West Bank Link Road.
Early land acquisition relating to the Mersey Gateway is costing £3.5m and just over £1.2m is due to be spent on a solar farm, with one envisaged on part of the former St Michael’s Golf Course in Widnes.
Nearly £250,000 has also been committed to Victoria Park’s Glasshouse. In Runcorn, £331,000 is ● envisaged to be spent on the former Crosville depot and nearly £200,000 set aside for the Linnets Clubhouse.
A further £199,000 is due to be spent on the cemeteries in Runcorn and Widnes, with approaching £900,000 set aside for the cemetery on Peelhouse Lane at the former Fairfield High School site.
More than £1.25m will be spent on repairing potholes, as well as £1.75m on street lighting across the borough, with a further £3m on highway maintenance.
Elsewhere, £78,000 is committed for Halton’s bowling greens, with £120,000 on children’s play equipment, £20,000 on litter bins, £95,000 on IT equipment for libraries, and £14,000 at Runcorn’s Phoenix Park.
The report said: “The Capital Programme is subject to continuous change as new resources and projects are identified, and will be updated throughout the year as revisions are approved by council.”
Councillors were due to discuss the item at a meeting taking place at Runcorn Town Hall on Wednesday, July 10, after the Weekly News had gone to press.