Everton draws stadium consultation to a close
Everton is holding the last of its consultation events over the coming days as it looks to gather public views on its new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock ahead of submitting a planning application next year.
The football club launched the first round of public consultation on the stadium and the future of the Goodison Park site on 16 November and has held events across the city, including at Liverpool One, Speke, Edge Lane, and at Goodison. The last two events are being held at New Brighton between 11am and 5pm this Saturday, and in the Sainsbury’s car park in Crosby on Monday, between 10am and 3pm.
Events are also being held today outside the Hilton Hotel at Liverpool One, and at the Blue Base on Salop Street.
During the three-week consultation, the club has been arguing the case for what it calls The People’s Project, a scheme which will see a new stadium built at Bramley-Moore Dock followed by the demolition of Goodison; the former stadium will then be redeveloped to house community facilities, healthcare uses, and new homes.
Place North West attended one of the consultation events at Liverpool One; here, the reception to the plans was broadly positive with fans wanting to press on with a new stadium with the failed move to Kirkby still in the memory.
City leaders have also thrown their weight behind the plans with an open letter signed by figures including John Irving, chief executive of Liverpool John Lennon Airport; Knowledge Quarter chief executive Colin Sinclair; and Erika Rushton, chair of the Baltic Creative CIC.
A series of consultation boards have set out the case for the move to Bramley-Moore Dock; overall, the club predicts the new stadium and the redevelopment of Goodison Park could create a £1bn boost to the local economy, around 12,000 construction jobs, and business rates income of £1.4m per year.
Everton has already completed a lease agreement with Peel L&P to assume a 200-year lease on the dock, subject to the club receiving planning permission
The club is largely not committing to specific timescales in terms of the build of the stadium and its cost, mindful of the troubles that Tottenham Hotspur has experienced with its delayed replacement for White Hart Lane. The capacity is also still being decided.
At the early stages, it is expected the stadium will take around three years to build with completion pencilled in for 2023. A contractor has not yet been appointed, although Place North West reported Lendlease was in talks for the build in March this year, while other contractors including ISG, Sir Robert McAlpine, Laing O’Rourke, and Morgan Sindall have all been sounded out by the football club. Dan Meis is attached as architect.
Following public consultation, these views will feed into a full planning application for the stadium, which is expected to be put forward next summer, alongside an outline application for the future of the Goodison site.
The club is intending to hold another round of public consultation on these plans once the applications are submitted.
Stadium development director Colin Chong said: “We have had an overwhelming response to our consultation and I’d encourage anybody who has an interest in either Everton Football Club or the continued progress of the city region, to come along or go online and let us know your thoughts.
“There are just a handful of events left in this first stage and we very much look forward to hearing from many more of you until we close in Crosby on Monday.”
