Everton Football Club Archives - Planning Design Ltd

Everton’s £500 million new stadium given council approval

29th November 202217th March 2021 by Gary Stringer

Everton Football Club’s 25 year search for a new stadium has reached a key milestone, writes keen Everton fan and Planning & Design Practice Ltd Director Richard Pigott. Planning applications for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and a community-led legacy project at Goodison Park were unanimously approved by Liverpool City Council at a meeting last month.

The decision to grant approval for a new 52,888-capacity waterfront stadium and the outline application for a re-imagined Goodison Park (the club’s home since 18925) brings both projects a significant step closer. Everton worked closely with the Liverpool Planning Authority, Historic England and other stakeholders for the past 12-months as part of the planning application process, and for around 2 years prior to that.

It was not all plain sailing though. Historic England said that while it supports Everton’s need for a “state-of-the-art” stadium and the benefits it could bring, it advised the council to refuse the application. In a statement, it said the plan to infill the dock would “fundamentally change its historic character” and result in “substantial harm” to the significance of the Grade II listed dock. It added it could also damage the waterfront’s World Heritage Site status.

However, the LPA considered that the significant social and economic public benefits of the new stadium outweighed the harm to the heritage assets of the site, also noting that the club had committed to spending £55m in preserving and celebrating the heritage assets as well as creating a heritage centre around the currently derelict Hydraulic Tower. The club had also amended the proposals, including removing the multi-storey car park from the west quay, thus creating a stepped plaza forming a key part of the site’s public realm which can be used on non-matchdays, and by reducing the overall height of the stadium in line with Liverpool City Council’s World Heritage Site Supplementary Planning Document.

The Secretary of State will now decide whether to overturn or uphold the committee’s decision, and the UNESCO World Heritage status will be reviewed later this year. This is standard practice for a development of this size and scale and the Government will have an initial 21 days to review the application before reaching a decision.

Watch this space.

For more information and images please visit https://www.peoples-project.co.uk/

Main Image: The People’s Project, Pattern Design

Everton FC’s public consultation shortlisted for National Planning award

5th December 202212th May 2020 by Gary Stringer

I wrote in January about Everton Football Club’s planning application for a new 52,000 seat stadium at the historic Bramley Moore Dock and the similarities that can be drawn between the heritage versus regeneration debate in Liverpool and those that have recently taken place in Derby.

The application was submitted at the end of 2019 and it was hoped that a decision on the application would be made by summer 2020 but timescales are up in the air at the moment due to a certain unforeseen global event.

Nevertheless, the club has been widely praised for the way in which it conducted one of the largest public consultations ever undertaken in the UK and the club and it’s advisors have now been named as a finalist in the prestigious ‘Planning Awards 2020’ in the category of ‘Stakeholder Engagement in Planning’.

Dubbed The People’s Project, the two stage consultation generated 63,000 responses and demonstrated 96% support for the scheme. Many believe it has set a new benchmark for public engagement in the planning process and has drawn praise from experts in civic engagement.

The multi-channel consultation was carried out in two phases across 2018 and 2019 and included a permanent online presence, augmented reality app, a geo-targeted social media campaign, email and postal surveys, focus groups and an ambitious touring exhibition, including a virtual reality experience, which visited 21 locations and attracted more than 18,000 people.

Professor Michael Parkinson, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor, civic engagement, at the University of Liverpool said: “Everton’s consultation has seen them live up to their reputation as the People’s Club. The immersive technologies they used, coupled with the breadth and depth of engagement, can provide valuable lessons for organisations undertaking engagement and consultation processes.”

The response of key consultees to the planning application is unclear at present as documents have not been uploaded to the Liverpool City Council web page. However, there is expected to be overwhelming public support for the proposal and local politicians and businessmen have widely praised the scheme. Furthermore, Henri Murison, the director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, has said that a new Everton stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock has a vital part to play in the future of the northern economy, especially in the aftermath of coronavirus. We await news of when (and how) the council will reach a decision on the application.

Richard Pigott, Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Everton stadium plans ‘a risk’ to Liverpool UNESCO status?

30th September 202015th January 2020 by Gary Stringer

What do Derby’s Landmark building and the proposed new Everton Football Club stadium in Liverpool have in common? The answer is that both have UNESCO World Heritage Site designations to contend with, writes Richard Pigott, Director at Planning & Design Practice Ltd.

In the case of the Landmark building a number of heritage bodies including Historic England consider that the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site will be adversely affected by the proposed 17 storey residential building adjacent to St Alkmund’s Way, meaning a decision is yet to be reached nearly 2 years after the application was submitted. In Everton’s case, they plan to relocate to a site in the Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City World Heritage Site.

As a lifelong Everton fan I am taking a keen interest in the planning application for Everton’s proposed new £500 million, 52,000 seat stadium submitted just before Christmas. It is proposed to relocate the club’s home from the historic Goodison Park to a site 1.5 miles to the west known as Bramley Moore Dock which is part of the docklands to the north of Liverpool which bears witness to the development of one of the world’s major trading centres in the 18th and 19th centuries.

UNESCO bestowed its prestigious ‘World Heritage Site’ title in 2004 but in recent years the scale of development in Liverpool has resulted in UNESCO placing the city on the danger list of losing their cherished moniker. The committee has cited “extreme concern” at the prospect of continued development of the historic docks despite the fact that many of them are currently empty, derelict and closed to the general public.

Critics of the WHS designation say that it’s a title which sounds impressive, but in reality delivers very little and that if the development of Liverpool Waters means the city has to forfeit its UNESCO status then so be it.

The planning application was only submitted on 23rd December so it is still very early days but Everton’s two stage public consultations saw more than 63,000 respondents take part and is widely recognised for being the largest commercial public consultation in the City of Liverpool’s history. The consultation has revealed overwhelming public support both for the siting and design of the stadium and the proposed redevelopment of Goodison Park for a community-led mixed use legacy project. Liverpool City Council has also pledged its support to the scheme, citing the regeneration benefits it will bring.

Everton state that the proposal would have a transformational impact on North Liverpool, kick-starting the regeneration of the northern docklands, contributing a £1bn boost to the city region’s economy, creating up to 15,000 jobs and attracting 1.4m visitors to the city each year.

However, the heritage issues involved make this a very interesting case and I will be keeping an eye on how the main parties respond to the proposal over the coming months.

Centre Image: The People’s Project, Pattern Design

Everton’s £500 million new stadium given council approval

Everton FC’s public consultation shortlisted for National Planning award

Everton stadium plans ‘a risk’ to Liverpool UNESCO status?

Offices

Services

Useful Links

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

GET IN TOUCH