By Mark Baber
September 16- Liverpool FCs expansion of Anfield stadium has been recommended for approval by Council planners, with a Planning Committee vote expected next week, whilst, not to be upstaged, Everton have revealed they intend to build a new stadium in Walton Hall Park.
Members of Liverpool Council Planning Committee are expected to make a site visit to Anfield next week before voting on a £150m scheme to extend Anfield’s Main Stand, increasing capacity to 54,000. They will also be voting on giving outline permission for an expanded Anfield Road stand which would take capacity up to 58,800.
If approved, work on the Main Stand could start in January 2015, with planners supporting approval over the objections of a local residents group and the Friends of Stanley Park.
Meanwhile, Everton, whose Goodison Park stadium sits on the other side of Stanley Park, have announced they want to build a new stadium a short distance away on Walton Hall Park.
Everton’s club chairman told The Liverpool Echo, “On my journey to our home games, as I pass Walton Hall Park, I inevitably think that I am only a minute away from our beloved Goodison. For several years now I’ve also thought, if only it was available for our new stadium, it ticks all the boxes.”
The new stadium is expected to have a 50,000 capacity and would be part of a comprehensive regeneration of the area, including new homes, with the council involved as an official partner, along with housing association Liverpool Mutual Homes.
According to Kenwright, the new stadium “Would fill me with great pride, it could be something very special for our city, the residents of North Liverpool and all Evertonians – a new home that goes beyond football and does what Everton does better than anyone else.”
The Liverpool Mayor confirmed “The council is going to put some money in and that will be around regeneration, not directly into the football club or stadium without getting a financial or commercial return.”
The announcement of the scheme, coming on the same day as the news of Anfield’s approval, is apparently purely coincidental and related to the calendar for the formal planning application which will be lodged within 12 months.