Liverpool City Council's planning committee has unanimously approved Liverpool's application to rebuild two sides of Anfield, a decision that could see work start on a new €95m Main Stand early next year.
The committee met at the city’s Town Hall on Tuesday to consider the football club’s proposals to increase Anfield’s capacity to an eventual 58,500 via a redeveloped Main Stand and Anfield Road stand, although construction will only initially commence on the former.
Two councillors raised concerns over the increase of traffic in the area following the redevelopment and a lack of car parking space while an objector, Mike Butler, accused the club of a “stage-managed decline” of housing around Anfield. There was a request for a deferment to consider the transport implications but the application, recommended by the council’s planning officer, was unanimously approved.
Liverpool view the decision as an important step towards resolving the long-running and often controversial stadium saga but not the end of the process. There will now be a further six-week consultation period, when potential legal challenges to the council’s decision can be submitted, before Liverpool can proceed with a stadium plan that forms part of a wider regeneration project involving the council and Your Housing.
In a joint statement released by the three parties, the mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “This is a very important milestone in our ambitions to transform the Anfield area, bringing new jobs, investment and housing. The overall regeneration will see £260m (€331m) invested in Anfield. Liverpool football club’s proposals for the stadium are a key part of this. The club is a major employer in the area and its stadium is a major draw for tourists and visitors.”
Liverpool's chief executive Ian Ayre added: "Today's approval by the planning committee is another step on our journey which we embarked on nearly two years ago. We've received very positive support for our proposals during a public consultation exercise earlier this year and whilst we are delighted about the progress made today, there are still some steps that we need to navigate through in order to give us the certainty that we need to proceed with our expansion plans."
The construction company Carillion has already been appointed to rebuild the 21,000-capacity Main Stand by Liverpool and the club has hired Tom Doyle, the former project manager on the London 2012 Olympics plus the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow, to oversee the development. The first phase will create an extra 8,500 seats while a new Anfield Road end would provide an additional 4,800, taking the stadium’s overall capacity to 58,500.
Jeremy Fisher, speaking on behalf of Liverpool at the planning meeting, confirmed that the middle-tier of the new three-tiered Main Stand would be “predominantly for hospitality”. The new structure will be built behind the existing Main Stand before the two are joined together in time, Liverpool hope, for the start of the 2016-17 season.
Guardian Service
