Liverpool CC faces paying back £8.2m EU funding if football stadium not built: report

Liverpool City Council could be forced to pay back up to £8.2m in European funding if Liverpool Football Club’s new stadium in Stanley Park is not built, the Liverpool Echo has reported.

The paper cited a report going before the council’s audit and accounts committee that said “the grant offer was made on the condition that the new Liverpool Football Club stadium will be built in Stanley Park. In the event that this does not occur, then the European Regional Development Fund grant of £8.2m will be repayable.”

The council told the Liverpool Echo that it was in talks with the club and has reached an agreement that it will not be burdened with the repayment.

However, opposition leaders criticised the arrangements.

Cllr Joe Anderson said: “A robust arrangement should have been put in place to protect the council, not just on this scheme but on others as well. European funding was allocated on the premise that things would happen and clearly if they’re not happening then there is a risk of clawback.

“The council’s strategy just seems to be ‘let’s not worry about tomorrow, let’s grab what we can today’ and that approach is not good enough.”

A spokesman for the council told the paper that the money was received for ancillary works linked to the stadium scheme.

He added: “If the scheme does not go ahead we can then go back to the club and the agreement is there will be no cost to the taxpayer for the scheme.”

The football club said it remained committed to building the new stadium at Stanley Park.