Speke
This is the plan which prompted my tweets. I had been told that Everton were staying at Goodison Park for five years, and that in that time, work would start on a new stadium in Speke near the retail park, where lorries currently deliver cars from. It’s a fairly enormous site, bordered on one side by a railway line (which could easily accommodate a station) and Speke Road. The plan was “essentially” to pick up the stadium designs for the failed move to Kirkby, and put them in Speke. The retail element of the Kirkby plan would be replaced with a leisure complex instead, backed by an Irish consortium.
My initial thoughts on this were that it was within the city boundaries, but further away from Goodison than Kirkby is. Hence my comment that this could put KEIOC in a difficult position.
Since those tweets, I have learned that the current owners of the land have a 60 year lease in place, and that their employees are so well paid and protected, that any plans to move would result in strike / legal action. Naturally this has put the current owners off selling the land. So it’s a non-starter.
Stonebridge Cross
I already knew a little about this site out in Croxteth, but had been told a while ago that Knowsley Borough Council would immediately log objections to any stadium proposals made by Everton on neighbouring land, and as such was a non-starter. But let’s share what I know.
Again, the plan, this time backed by a Scandanavian consortium, was to take the Kirkby designs and put them on Stonebridge Cross. But once again replacing the retail element with a leisure complex. This was Liverpool City Council’s preferred option for the club.
With both of these schemes, Everton would need to come up with some cash, just like at Kirkby where £78m was needed. However, sources at Everton have told both of these consortia that the maximum the club could raise without borrowing would be £35m.
The Football Quarter
Liverpool Football Club’s planning permission for Stanley Park runs out next month, and the new owners aren’t bothered about it, as they have no intention of building a new stadium for the kopites to infect.
They do, however, quite like the idea of a shared stadium or the more realistic option of the proposed “football quarter” which would regenerate both Anfield and Walton, and potentially provide funds to redevelop the stands at both Goodison and Anfield. This requires numerous agencies outside of the football clubs to come together, including the local council and the University of Liverpool. The scheme would create what would, for most minds, be the capital of English football. Hosting two of the four most successful sides in the English game, and one of the most historic clubs in the world. It could be used to house “The Everton Collection” which would in turn create a museum to rival the National Football Museum (currently housed in Manchester) which in turn a bid could be made to bring it “home” to Mersesyside.
With very little upfront investment from the football clubs, if all agencies can work together, this would be a spectacular achievement for the City of Liverpool, and could provide much needed revenue to both clubs in order to help improve the stadiums on each site.
http://www.nsno.co.uk/forums/index.php/ ... 098.0.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NilSatis ... XymsxywTE/
Login
FAQ
Search
