Sep 4 2006
Exclusive By Larry Neild, Daily Post
CITY politicians are set to lease a slice of historic Stanley Park, paving the way for work to start on a new stadium for Liverpool FC early in 2007.
It means the club could host the first game at its new home at the start of the 2009 season, a report to Liverpool City Council's executive board reveals.
The board will meet on Friday to make the landmark decision that will trigger the biggest-ever regeneration programme in north Liverpool, worth more than £240m.
The next few weeks will be critical as LFC officials put together a financial package that will fund the club's £180m contribution to the project.
That will trigger funding from the public sector worth millions of pounds before a deadline set for the end of this month.
Sources at the city council close to the deal are confident the funding package will be in place before the deadline. Despite more than 400 objections from individual residents and organisations, the executive board is being recommended to agree to release land in Stanley Park for the new football stadium.
Liverpool FC will be granted a 999-year lease, with the area managed by a new joint venture company set up on a 50-50 basis with the city council.
The club will pay the city council £300,000 a year ground rent.
This week's expected support for the strategy will finally test the threat of opponents who say they will legally challenge what they claim is a sell-off of open spaces and parkland.
A programme outlined in a report to the council's executive board envisages a start on the new stadium early next year.
Full planning permission for the stadium has already been granted, leaving the park deal the last major hurdle to face.
Club officials are expected to satisfy European Objective 1 funding monitors within weeks that money is in place to pay for the new ground.
That will trigger the release of £15m to pay for public works around the new stadium. A total of £40m - including European funds - in public sector cash is expected.
Councillors have been issued with a 640-page report outlining the arrangements for what is described as the New Anfield.
Three leading executive board members, Cllrs Mike Storey, Berni Turner and Keith Turner, have worked alongside acting regeneration chief Ben Dolan, on the strategy.
Cllr Storey will be making a presentation to the executive board at the town hall on Friday morning, seeking approval from his cabinet colleagues.
A yes vote from the cabinet will pave the way for:
* Granting of a 999-year lease for the site of the proposed new stadium;
* Design and restoration work for Stanley Park and the Gladstone Conservatory;
* Demolition of the 1960s Vernon Sangster sports centre in Stanley Park.
City council leader Cllr Warren Bradley said last night: "Liverpool Football Club is one of the best known and most successful clubs in the world.
"Yet it stands in one of the poorest areas, not only in the city, but in the country.
"What we are looking to do is not just provide a new home for the football club fitting for their status as one of the world's best, but use their success to spark a dramatic revival of the Anfield and Breckfield areas.
"For the past five years, we have worked with the Anfield Breckfield Partnership Forum on the strategy to regenerate the area and every consultation with the local community has shown overwhelming support for this scheme.
"There have been some objections to the loss of open space and clearly we will consider these very carefully before making any decisions.
"However, this is a golden opportunity for North Liverpool to be transformed."
Liverpool FC's chief executive Rick Parry said: "We are committed to the regeneration of the Anfield Breckfield area and intend that our investment in a new stadium benefits this neighbourhood and Liverpool."
Cllr Storey said last night: "The new stadium will provide a 21st-century business and tourist destination and a catalyst for the regeneration of the wider areas.
"The entire project will be delivered between 2006 and 2010."
The aim is to carry out the New Anfield Project in three phases. The first stage will see the building of the new stadium as well as a Community Partnership Centre.
The remainder of Grade II listed Stanley Park, one of the country's recognised Victorian parks, will be restored to its former glory.
That work will include the refurbishment of the Stanley Conservatory.
Phase 2 will see the refurbishment of the adjoining Anfield Cemetery. Phase 3 will see the creation of Anfield Plaza on the site of the old ground. It will include spaces for businesses, retail and leisure.
The development will be led by the new joint venture company which will have two directors each from the city council and the club.
The company will be responsible for the regeneration of the area covering the stadium, as well as the new Anfield Plaza, but will have no influence over the remainder of Stanley Park.
Officials at the council say the regeneration scheme and new stadium will create more than 1,000 new jobs, 766 full -time and 260 jobs in construction work.
The number of tourists flocking to Anfield will rise from the current 480,000 a year to 1.74m.
The city council will take charge of public sector funds, dependent on Liverpool FC confirming private sector investment.
The new Community Partnership Centre will have facilities for education, sport and community activities.
[email protected]
Timetable for action
* SEPTEMBER 8 - Council Executive Board to vote on releasing Stanley Park for new stadium
* End of September - Final decision on public sector funding
* Spring 2007 - Work starts on new stadium
* May 2007 - Vernon Sangster centre demolished
* Spring 2009 - Work on new stadium finished and handed over to club
* August 2009 - First match at new stadium
* December 2009 - Existing Anfield stadium demolished
* May 2010 - Building of New Anfield Plaza on site of old ground
The sparkling new Anfield will hold 60,000 spectators
THE new stadium will increase Anfield's capacity by 15,000 to 60,000.
There will be an underground car park, club shop and museum as well as the Community Partnership centre.
Extensive CCTV systems will be installed, making the areas around the stadium, the new Plaza and Stanley Park safer.
Liverpool FC will pay an annual ground rent of £300,000, increasing in line with inflation.
The football club will be allowed to use part of Stanley Park to store excavated soil from the new stadium for 18 months.
Liverpool FC has ruled out developing the existing stadium or moving to a new site in Speke.
Properties in Anfield Road will have to be cleared to make way for the stadium. They are already owned by either the club or the city council.
Three council tenants in Anfield Court are to be given priority for relocation.
Exclusive By Larry Neild, Daily Post
CITY politicians are set to lease a slice of historic Stanley Park, paving the way for work to start on a new stadium for Liverpool FC early in 2007.
It means the club could host the first game at its new home at the start of the 2009 season, a report to Liverpool City Council's executive board reveals.
The board will meet on Friday to make the landmark decision that will trigger the biggest-ever regeneration programme in north Liverpool, worth more than £240m.
The next few weeks will be critical as LFC officials put together a financial package that will fund the club's £180m contribution to the project.
That will trigger funding from the public sector worth millions of pounds before a deadline set for the end of this month.
Sources at the city council close to the deal are confident the funding package will be in place before the deadline. Despite more than 400 objections from individual residents and organisations, the executive board is being recommended to agree to release land in Stanley Park for the new football stadium.
Liverpool FC will be granted a 999-year lease, with the area managed by a new joint venture company set up on a 50-50 basis with the city council.
The club will pay the city council £300,000 a year ground rent.
This week's expected support for the strategy will finally test the threat of opponents who say they will legally challenge what they claim is a sell-off of open spaces and parkland.
A programme outlined in a report to the council's executive board envisages a start on the new stadium early next year.
Full planning permission for the stadium has already been granted, leaving the park deal the last major hurdle to face.
Club officials are expected to satisfy European Objective 1 funding monitors within weeks that money is in place to pay for the new ground.
That will trigger the release of £15m to pay for public works around the new stadium. A total of £40m - including European funds - in public sector cash is expected.
Councillors have been issued with a 640-page report outlining the arrangements for what is described as the New Anfield.
Three leading executive board members, Cllrs Mike Storey, Berni Turner and Keith Turner, have worked alongside acting regeneration chief Ben Dolan, on the strategy.
Cllr Storey will be making a presentation to the executive board at the town hall on Friday morning, seeking approval from his cabinet colleagues.
A yes vote from the cabinet will pave the way for:
* Granting of a 999-year lease for the site of the proposed new stadium;
* Design and restoration work for Stanley Park and the Gladstone Conservatory;
* Demolition of the 1960s Vernon Sangster sports centre in Stanley Park.
City council leader Cllr Warren Bradley said last night: "Liverpool Football Club is one of the best known and most successful clubs in the world.
"Yet it stands in one of the poorest areas, not only in the city, but in the country.
"What we are looking to do is not just provide a new home for the football club fitting for their status as one of the world's best, but use their success to spark a dramatic revival of the Anfield and Breckfield areas.
"For the past five years, we have worked with the Anfield Breckfield Partnership Forum on the strategy to regenerate the area and every consultation with the local community has shown overwhelming support for this scheme.
"There have been some objections to the loss of open space and clearly we will consider these very carefully before making any decisions.
"However, this is a golden opportunity for North Liverpool to be transformed."
Liverpool FC's chief executive Rick Parry said: "We are committed to the regeneration of the Anfield Breckfield area and intend that our investment in a new stadium benefits this neighbourhood and Liverpool."
Cllr Storey said last night: "The new stadium will provide a 21st-century business and tourist destination and a catalyst for the regeneration of the wider areas.
"The entire project will be delivered between 2006 and 2010."
The aim is to carry out the New Anfield Project in three phases. The first stage will see the building of the new stadium as well as a Community Partnership Centre.
The remainder of Grade II listed Stanley Park, one of the country's recognised Victorian parks, will be restored to its former glory.
That work will include the refurbishment of the Stanley Conservatory.
Phase 2 will see the refurbishment of the adjoining Anfield Cemetery. Phase 3 will see the creation of Anfield Plaza on the site of the old ground. It will include spaces for businesses, retail and leisure.
The development will be led by the new joint venture company which will have two directors each from the city council and the club.
The company will be responsible for the regeneration of the area covering the stadium, as well as the new Anfield Plaza, but will have no influence over the remainder of Stanley Park.
Officials at the council say the regeneration scheme and new stadium will create more than 1,000 new jobs, 766 full -time and 260 jobs in construction work.
The number of tourists flocking to Anfield will rise from the current 480,000 a year to 1.74m.
The city council will take charge of public sector funds, dependent on Liverpool FC confirming private sector investment.
The new Community Partnership Centre will have facilities for education, sport and community activities.
[email protected]
Timetable for action
* SEPTEMBER 8 - Council Executive Board to vote on releasing Stanley Park for new stadium
* End of September - Final decision on public sector funding
* Spring 2007 - Work starts on new stadium
* May 2007 - Vernon Sangster centre demolished
* Spring 2009 - Work on new stadium finished and handed over to club
* August 2009 - First match at new stadium
* December 2009 - Existing Anfield stadium demolished
* May 2010 - Building of New Anfield Plaza on site of old ground
The sparkling new Anfield will hold 60,000 spectators
THE new stadium will increase Anfield's capacity by 15,000 to 60,000.
There will be an underground car park, club shop and museum as well as the Community Partnership centre.
Extensive CCTV systems will be installed, making the areas around the stadium, the new Plaza and Stanley Park safer.
Liverpool FC will pay an annual ground rent of £300,000, increasing in line with inflation.
The football club will be allowed to use part of Stanley Park to store excavated soil from the new stadium for 18 months.
Liverpool FC has ruled out developing the existing stadium or moving to a new site in Speke.
Properties in Anfield Road will have to be cleared to make way for the stadium. They are already owned by either the club or the city council.
Three council tenants in Anfield Court are to be given priority for relocation.
Comment