Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region, has unveiled budget proposals for Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in 2020/21.

The proposals would see the Combined Authority’s precept and tunnel tolls frozen at 2019/20 levels, with the fast tag offering city region residents the lowest toll in 20 years, while the Transport Levy, paid by the city region’s six local authorities, would increase by 2.1%, in line with inflation, the first increase in three years.

The budget will also make special provision for key strategic priorities including the Mersey Tidal Power Project, the Liverpool City Region’s Digital Connectivity Programme and improvements to the city region’s bus services.

Speaking about the proposals, Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

“Over the past decade, our region has been hit hard by austerity, with local government and local people bearing the brunt of government cuts. In spite of this, I’m optimistic about the future and the opportunities devolution gives us to make our own decisions for the benefit of local people.

“From investing tens of millions in local schools and colleges, improving our transport infrastructure and providing £75m to support local business, to our UK-leading Housing First pilot to tackle homelessness and our Households into Work scheme to support families with generational unemployment, helping local people has been the driving force behind everything we do.

“And there is more to come. This year, we’ll be launching our state-of-the-art, publicly owned trains for the Merseyrail network, announcing plans to improve our bus network and moving forward with our ambitious Mersey Tidal Power project, which will harness the River Mersey for clean, green sustainable energy.

“I also want to help ease the burden on local taxpayers in the year ahead, which is why I’m freezing tunnel tolls and the council tax precept for city region residents.”