Sefton Liberal Democrats leader John Pugh has told Sefton Council to “bite the bullet” and begin work repairing Southport Pier, urging local residents to help him “convince the council that it’s safe and it’s affordable.”

The structure has now been closed for 27 months, and with the council no closer to finding the £13m required to undertake necessary renovations, Pugh told GB News that the authority should begin work and consider costs later.

“We need to convince the council that it’s safe and it’s affordable to repair it,” said Pugh. “If this were a private pier, it would still be open. The council are massively risk averse.

“[Residents are] slightly perplexed that it is closed in the first place, because they’ve looked at the pier and they understand it’s not like many piers, which are completely derelict. They also don’t understand why the council won’t make some sort of start on it.”

In response to Pugh’s comments, the National Piers Society acknowledged “some privately-owned piers might remain open if their piers are in a comparable state, but that certainly is not an attitude to aspire to.”

“Sefton Council’s structural inspection report immediately confirms the extent of the deterioration and the justification of its closure surely cannot be argued.”