Anfield plans submitted

Liverpool Football Club has submitted its planning application to redevelop Anfield stadium to increase capacity from 45,500 to 58,800.

The club applied for detailed planning consent to expand the Anfield Main Stand by 8,500 to 21,000 seats and outline consent for the expansion of its Anfield Road Stand by 4,800.

The application is expected to be considered by the city's planning committee later this year.

The scheme would include a two-storey podium and a cloister which would become the new home for the Hillsborough Memorial.

The Main Stand would open onto a wide public space which has been designed to link the stadium and park while creating an area which is relevant and usable to the local community, particularly on non-match days.

As part of its proposed stadium expansion plans, the club has also appointed Tom Doyle, a project director who worked on the London 2012 Olympic programme and more recently the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow, to manage the redevelopment should consent be granted.

Construction work on the proposed Main Stand could begin early next year and with completion due in time for the 2016/17 season.

The project team includes architect KSS, planning consultant Turley, and landscape architect Planit IE.

In October 2012, Liverpool City Council announced its plans to transform the Anfield area with a comprehensive regeneration plan. LFC committed to working with the City Council and Your Housing Group in support of their delivery of the regeneration plan and also confirmed its preference was to expand Anfield Stadium. The overall regeneration of the area will see £260m invested.

Ian Ayre, managing director of Liverpool FC, said: "When we set out on the journey to explore the feasibility of expanding the stadium, we said the process would be determined by certainty. Certainty that we have the support from local residents and businesses for our proposed plans, that we can acquire the land required and that we can navigate the planning landscape.

"A lot of good work has been done and we still have more work to achieve certainty however the planning application is another step in the right direction."