Spring start for Liverpool FC stadium - to be completed by 2011WORK is expected to start on Liverpool FCâs iconic ÂŁ400m new home at Stanley Park as early as spring next year, after the scheme was approved by councillors.
The cityâs planning committee unanimously approved the ambitious 60,000 seater stadium, which the clubâs US owners vow will be âone of the worldâs greatestâ.
Last night Liverpool FC chief executive Rick Parry said the approval would allow the club to remain competitive in the Premier League.
Speaking before last nightâs Champions League clash against Turkish team BeĹiktaĹ, Mr Parry praised the clubâs American owners: âAll the credit is down to Tom and George, it is their initiativeââ, he said, adding: âFans and city leaders have been excited.
âWeâre setting our sights high. At the end of the day, we want a great team and a great stadium.
âThe message for the fans is that it will give us the revenues to make sure we can continue to compete on the pitch.
âThatâs the whole purpose of the exercise, its not about building monuments, itâs about generating revenues to make sure we are competitive.â
It comes after it emerged costs of the new stadium had risen to ÂŁ400m; however no-one was available last night to discuss its detailed financing.
Mr Parry said building work was likely to start as early as next spring, provided Communities Secretary Hazel Blears does not intervene to force a judicial review. But he admitted the facility was not likely to be open until a year after initially projected. âThe realistic likelihood is that it will now be ready for 2011.â
The revised plans were ordered by Tom Hicks and George Gillett after their takeover of the club earlier this year.
The designs include a single tier new Kop with a capacity of almost 19,000, at an angle of less than 34 degrees to prevent any âcliff edgeâ seating.
The stadium will also have the ability to eventually be expanded to 76,000 seats, for which a second planning application will have to be submitted in the future.
Mr Parry described the unanimous approval as âgratifyingâ, adding: âAnother hurdleâs been overcome. Itâs good news, weâre very pleased.â
But he said: âWe still have a period of waiting. We have to see whether the Secretary of State will call the application in. We hope that isnât the case, the last one wasnât.
âThere is a period where there can be a legal challenge. We believe that, as last time, any objection would be overcome. But we have to let that run its course.
âAll told, the judicial review can be around four months. The earliest work could start would be in the spring of next year.
âWeâve let George and Tom know and itâs fair to say they are very pleased. We havenât had the chance for lengthy discussions just yet. We were always hopeful because the key point is we have an existing planning consent for a 60,000 stadium.
âThis was really just to place the amended design in front of the committee. As it is an exciting and innovative design, we would have been disappointed not to get permission but clearly you cannot take anything for granted. Itâs clearly good news. What this will give us the ability to do is to build the structure that is capable of taking significantly more than 60,000.
âAll this does is give us the capability of opening the stadium with 60,000, so there will be a fol- low-up application for whatever we decide the capacity to be.
âThat doesnât affect the build or design. The impact will be on the transportation and environ- mental assessment which is a lengthy process and a lot of work.â
Objectors' paean to Victorian splendours of Stanley Park fall on deaf ears
PLANNING committee members took four and a half hours to reach their decision after a site visit to Stanley Park yesterday.
The afternoon was spent hearing a stream of objections from more than 20 Anfield residents, who told of the impact of living in the shadow of one of the worldâs biggest clubs.
Fears of match day chaos led councillors to recommend a minimum ÂŁ100 parking fine for those who flout restrictions.
Among the objectors was Florence Gersten of the Save Our Cities campaign. She described the plan as âfundamentally wrongâ for a prized Victorian park, saying the stadium would be catastrophic.
âI believe this is a lamentable attitude towards North Liverpool. It would be a different story if Liverpool FC wanted to build in Sefton Park,â she said.
Dr Alastair Walker, chairman of Stanley Park Preservation Society, said a third of the green space would be destroyed.
âThis scheme does not enhance the park, it degrades it. It is hideous, gross barbaric vandalism which must be rejected,â he said.
George McLelland of the Friends group feared that once the stadium was built it would eventually mean to the loss of even more parkland in future years.
Mike Butler, secretary of Anfield Regeneration Action Committee said the real motive for the new application was because LFC wanted an even bigger stadium than before, accusing officials of obscuring the truth.
âThis plan is totally unacceptable,â he said, adding that as there were acceptable brownfield sites, such as one in Speke/Garston, they should be considered.
Jean Hill said it was ironic that plans to build on the Garden Festival site were being examined by a current public inquiry, yet there was no suggestion that the Anfield plan should face such scrutiny. Local artist Frank Green, an Anfield resident for 45 years, told how elderly people had ben forced out of the area to meet the clubâs expansion plans.
And Brian Woodbridge, who played football as a boy in Stanley Park, accused the council of handing the park to âYankee speculatorsâ.
âI would say to them âwould you build a stadium in Central Park â of course you wouldnât, you have more sense,â he said.
Objectors say they will bid to have the plans called in by the Government to force a public inquiry. Cllr Steve Radford, leader of the minority Liberal group on the council attacked the scheme. He said if Everton had wanted to build in Stanley Park the council would have said âNo dealâ, but officers acted like agents of Liverpool FC when they applied for permission.
Kop was inspiration
GEORGE Gillett and Tom Hicks hired the worldâs sixth largest firm of architects to redraw a previously approved stadium plan, for what they want to be the âfinest stadium in the worldâ.
Paul Hyett, chairman of London and Dallas firm Ryder HKS, headed a team of professionals at yesterdayâs meeting seeking to win over the hearts and minds of Anfield people.
Rick Parry, chief executive of Liverpool FC, reaffirmed the clubâs commitment to the regeneration of the Anfield area, as well as building a new stadium.
He told the meeting at the Oakmere Conference Centre, near the present Anfield ground, how the club was working alongside the city council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and Government Office NW, to restore Stanley Park and improve the area.
Mr Hyett told how a Liverpool FC game against Barcelona was the inspiration for the new design when the Kop Choir was in full flow.
He said: âMy colleagues said they had never seen anything like it.â
He said he immediately had pulled out an envelope containing his wage slip and drew a simple design with a new Kop as a huge âtheatreâ at one end of the ground.
âI told my colleagues â you could hang this whole design off the Kopâ,â added Mr Hyett, former president of RIBA, the Royal Institute of British Architects.
âThe new owners said their mission was to create for Liverpool the greatest football stadium in the world, and what we have designed is truly iconic.â
Decision welcomed
BUSINESS and tourism leaders joined fans last night in welcoming the decision.
Jack Stopforth, chief executive of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, said: âItâs obviously the right decision.
âWhatâs exciting from the community and business perspective is that itâs a trigger for so much badly needed investment.
âWe welcome it and look forward to working with the club.â
Martin King, Director of Tourism at The Mersey Partnership said:
âWe know the club has a huge impact on the visitor economy of the Liverpool City Region by attracting a very significant number of staying visitors. The Tourist Board recognised this enormous input by presenting them with a special award for contribution to the visitor economy.
âThe new stadium, with its increased capacity, will only add to these numbers.â
But Steve Kelly, founder editor of fanzine Through the Wind and the Rain said: âI am not really sure how positive it is, or if they will be able to fill it â the costs seem to be creeping up too.â
Cllr Steve Radford, leader of the minority Liberal group on the council attacked the scheme. He said if Everton had wanted to build in Stanley Park the council would have said âNo dealâ, but officers had acted like agents of Liverpool FC when they applied for permission.
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