Manchester Council is being criticised after it was revealed that it will sink a further £85,000 of public money into the failing Belle Vue racing tracks which has already eaten up more than £9m.

Last year the council spent £850,000 bailing out the Belle Vue Group in a failed bid to avoid liquidation, but now they are asking for a further £85,000 bailout to avoid a second collapse.

The National Speedway Stadium has been home to Belle Vue Aces since 2016 but the Belle Vue Group have struggled to make the location financially viable, requesting nearly £1m worth of favours from the council on top of the £8m the town hall spent building the stadium.

This includes having to relay ground after it was discovered that it was too soft for races to safely go ahead. A report later revealed that the ground had been made up of contaminated building rubble, large pieces of timber, plastic sheeting and other bits of waste.

The council, which was overseeing the project, discovered what had been put beneath the track had been signed off by Belle Vue Group.

As a result, the group forked out more than £100,000 on legal and consultancy fees.

Now the council will hand out a further £85,000 to avoid a second collapse, which includes a £30,000 billboard campaign with no plan for a return on investment.

It also plans to open a sports academy with a further £30,000 but this relies on the speedway becoming financially viable which based on current plans, is unlikely.

If the speedway fails again, more public money will be spent on ripping up the track to allow other stadium use.

There are no viable plans for the council to regain the £9m of public money.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Richard Kilpatrick was the only member to vote against the plans. He said:

“I absolutely support the principle of ensuring a thriving local business economy but unfortunately this has proven to be a failing initiative on more than one occasion.

“This is another example of the kind of reckless decisions that are made without a strong opposition on the council. There are no viable plans for this money to be returned and we cannot afford to sink any more money into a business that shows no signs of growth despite public injections of nearly £9m.

“There are much more pressing issues we should be prioritising with public money such as tackling homelessness and housing unaccompanied child refugees – both of which the council is claiming they don’t have enough funds for.”