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| ARCHIVE NEWS STORY |
EXCLUSIVE: NEW STADIUM PLANS REVEALED
Mark Platt & Paul Rogers
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Liverpool Football Club today submitted an application for planning permission to the City Council for a proposed new 60,000-seater stadium in Stanley Park
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As first revealed on this website in May 2002, the club hopes to move into a brand new stadium less than 300 yards from their current home in time for the start of the 2006/07 season.
Following close consultation with various bodies over the past three to four years - including the local community, English Heritage, Sport England and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment - the plans will now be presented to the Council's Planning Committee with a view to work beginning on the project in the spring of next year.
The club are investing some #80 million in the new stadium, and speaking excitedly about the plans, Anfield Chief Executive Rick Parry described them as monumental for the North Liverpool area and was quick to stress that it's about much more than a new stadium. As well as a new state-of-the-art playing arena for the club, the whole of the surrounding Anfield/Breckfield area will also be completely regenerated in time.
"These plans will have a massive impact on the area," claimed Parry. "Three years have elapsed since they were first mooted and several million pounds and a phenomenal amount of time has gone into reaching the stage where we're at today. The changes to the stadium are not massively different to the ones unveiled last year but it will be pretty unique and one that cannot be compared to any existing model. The areas around the stadium are of great interest now and it is a project fitting of Capital of Culture status for the city.
"We believe we have covered every possible angle in terms of the planning application and it's a critically important day for us. We are delighted to have reached this stage but things will get much harder from here on in as the project gets bigger.
"As part of the planning application process, information about what is planned in terms of regeneration for the whole community is included.
"This is something which has followed extensive dialogue with the community in the last three years. The club sees the new stadium as a catalyst for the regeneration of the entire area, which will be to the benefit of the whole community. However, we made clear the timescales involved are now critical if the stadium is ready for 2006 and the regeneration package completed in time for the European Capital of Culture in 2008."
Peter Bevington, official spokesperson for the Anfield and Breckfield Community Steering Group - set up in 1999 to canvas the views of local people over the regeneration of the area - welcomed the news that the club has submitted an application for planning permission for a new stadium in Stanley Park.
"I think I speak for a lot of people in the local community when I say that I welcome this news," claimed Bevington. "The local community has been living with a lot of uncertainty about what was going to happen to the area and the fact that the football club have submitted an application for planning permission is a step forward towards kick-starting the regeneration of the area. If the building of a new stadium leads to the wider regeneration package that has been proposed then everyone will welcome that and that regeneration package includes new housing schemes, new environmental schemes and new health and education facilities along with the Anfield Plaza development. I think it's fair to say that local residents will be worried in the planning application is refused because if there is no new stadium, it will raise many questions about the deliverability of the other areas of the regeneration package. Take the stadium out of the area and you lose many visitors, which will affect the local economy. If there's no new stadium then I think the question that would have to be put to the North West Development Agency and the City Council is what can still be delivered for the area without the club's investment?"
Marie Rooney, spokesperson for the Vernon Sangster Community Sports Centre which will eventually move into improved facilities within the new stadium in Stanley Park, said: "Vernon Sangster Community Sports Centre has and continues to endure a horrendous time of sustainability whilst all the uncertainty around the Liverpool Football Club development has gone on. A proposed new Vernon Sangster within the stadium with 21st century facilities is what our young people and the community deserve. The present centre holds a lot of history, memories and nostalgia, but sadly it is nearing the end of its life and therefore we look to the future with excitement."
Ruth Little, a local resident and Chair of the Housing Group of the Steering Committee, expressed delight at the news of the move by LFC today. "We have a magnificent park on our doorstep and we have to protect it," she said. "The building of a new stadium inside the park will actually enhance what we've already got in the long term. I think there's a little bit of misunderstanding about how much of the actual park the stadium will take up and it's not as much as what some people think. We've been working on a housing strategy for the area for over three years but you can't regenerate an area with just new and improved housing - you need the whole package and that includes health, leisure, educational, tourist and new transport facilities. Not everyone will be happy with every aspect of the regeneration plans but we all need to make some compromises for the good of the area. This area can't sustain the levels of crime, anti-social behaviour and dereliction for much longer and that's why I'm pleased that the football club are working with us to improve things."
The new Anfield
Containing 60,000 seats with unrestricted and comfortable viewing for all spectators, the stadium will be of the highest quality. Four 'traditional' stands will be linked by one roof, with the lower tiers closed in, providing greater proximity to the pitch. Fans will be consulted on the naming of three stands and of course there will be a Kop end, which will effectively be a single tier. The full title of the new stadium has not been finalised but Rick Parry sees no reason why it would not remain as Anfield.
One side of the stadium will house a purpose built, much bigger, museum - the role model being FC Barcelona's, which attracts 1 million visitors each year. All community activities, including a new Vernon Sangster Sports Centre, will be in another, along with a further education centre to be run by Liverpool Hope University. Underneath the stadium will be #4.5 million car deck
Hillsborough / Memorials
Following discussions between the club and the Hillsborough Family Support Group, it has been decided the Hillsborough Memorial will remain where it is until the plans evolve further. There are also plans to erect a memorial garden as a tribute to those who have had their ashes scattered inside the current Anfield stadium. No decision has yet been taken about where the Shankly Gates and Paisley Gateway will be situated but they'll definitely figure somewhere in the plans.
Finances
#80 million is being invested in the new stadium but this will have no affect whatsoever on team building. Should Liverpool fill the stadium on a regular basis, the stadium will become self-financing and in approximately 15 years it will have been totally paid for. Everything has been planned down to the tiniest detail. Contractors are already on board, with prices fixed, and the club foresee no problems with rising construction costs.
Anfield Plaza
Situated on the site of the current Anfield ground which will be totally flattened, the Plaza will be an area the size of two Liver Buildings or St Georges Hall in its entirety. It will be an area of high quality open space that will maximise tourist attraction and provide more jobs. Consultation is currently ongoing with the local community - including young people - about what they'd like to be built on and around it, but some of the proposed ideas so far include a hotel, cafe/restaurants, offices, health centre, ice-rink and an open-air market.
Stanley Park
The famous park will be restored to its former glory and made fit for the 21st century. New improved football pitches will laid on the site of the current ones, while the restoration of the historic Gladstone conservatory, built in 1898 but currently lying derelict, and the nearby Anfield cemetery will be high on the agenda. Improved security will also be foremost in the implementation of these plans.
Transport
New park and ride services will be put in place and the club are in talks with Merseytravel about opening up an old unused railway line that could potentially link to Lime Street Station and Aintree.
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