BREAKING NEWS: Liverpool city council APPROVE Everton’s planning application for 52,000-seater £500million Bramley-Moore stadium as they take a step closer to sealing …
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Everton’s application for a new £500million stadium at Bramley-Moore dock has been approved by Liverpool city council.
New designs for the 52,888-capacity stadium were released in September last year and Tuesday’s council verdict means Everton’s departure from Goodison Park has taken a major step forward.
The council unanimously approved the proposal for the new stadium and the hope is that Everton can complete the works between 2023 and 2024.
Everton received approval from Liverpool’s city council for a planned £500m new stadium
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Sefton Borough Council declared their support for Everton’s proposal in principle as they said they believe the stadium has significant potential to bring opportunities to the local economy and regeneration to the wider area.
Eleven councillors delivered the momentous verdict on Tuesday as they deliberated on plans that were initially submitted in December 2019, before an updated version was filed in September 2020.
Cllr Steve Radford said he was ‘absolutely impressed’ by the club’s presentation.
Procedure now dictates that given the scale of the project, the plans will go to Secretary of State Robert Jenrick’s office. But gaining local approval on the proposals is a big step forward for the development.
Everton are convinced the ‘world-class’ development will regenerate the semi-derelict area of the the city’s northern docklands, contributing a £1billion boost to the local economy, creating up to 15,000 jobs and attracting 1.5m visitors to the city each year.
In a statement on the club’s website back in September, Stadium Development Director Colin Chong said: ‘We have further enhanced one of the most exciting development projects in the country.
‘By working closely with Liverpool city council and all our key stakeholders we have refined our plans to ensure a better connection between the stadium and the River.
‘The public stepped plaza will become a high-quality start and end to the planned river walk and a destination benefitting the local community as well as visitors to the city on non-matchdays.
‘This will be a transformational development for not just North Liverpool but for the Northern Powerhouse.’
Historic England are against the development and are keen to preserve the dockland area as it currently stands but the council overruled those objections to back the project.
Everton have been at their current home Goodison Park since 1892 making the venue at Stanley Park one of the oldest in English football.
Chong, one of two officials to speak at the meeting on behalf of Everton, added a key reason behind the plans for development is the increased demand for matchday tickets that they are unable to fulfil.
Goodison finds itself surrounded by houses in a residential area and it is not possible to redevelop the current site.
It is hoped that work can begin on the site in the summer of 2021 with a view to being moved in ready for the start of the 2024-25 campaign.
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