Football club scraps new stadium plan

EVERTON Football Club have scrapped their plan for a new stadium at Walton Hall Park.

The scheme would have sat alongside a major housing and retail development.

But the Goodison club and Liverpool City Council have now said they will be looking elsewhere for a new home for the club, nicknamed the Toffees.

Meanwhile, Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson has said ruled out future development at Walton Hall Park, pledging it will “remain a park and will be designated as such”.

Everton and the council say they are looking at two other locations for a new stadium, but have not specified where.

A joint statement from the council and Everton FC said: “Liverpool City Council and Everton Football Club can confirm they have been working together over recent months to investigate alternative plans for a new stadium for Everton Football Club.

“These new plans no longer focus on Walton Hall Park but on two other potential sites brownfield sites within the city boundary.

“The proposed scheme at Walton Hall Park was always an ambitious one. It was a regeneration scheme that relied heavily on retail investment into the site.

“Most of the current investment into retail is focused on city centres and larger district centres and not on out-of-town developments like this would have been.”

Robert Elstone, chief executive of Everton Football Club said: “Our work with the council, particularly over the last few months, has been positive and progressive and whilst our work evaluating the alternatives is at an early stage, we are hopeful that the new sites provide us with a much more straightforward, deliverable opportunity to build a new stadium.”

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