Everton FC confirms date of its stadium planning application

Colin Chong

Everton Football Club will submit its planning application for a state-of-the-art, 52-000-seater stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, in Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters development, on Monday, December 23, the club has revealed.

In a blog post today (December 13) updating fans on progress with the People’s Project, stadium development director Colin Chong thanks the public for their contribution to the consultation process and confirms the date on which its detailed application will be formally lodged with Liverpool City Council.

Combined with Everton’s plans for a community-led legacy project at Goodison Park, the transformational proposals have the potential to deliver a £1bn boost to the city’s economy, create up to 15,000 new jobs and deliver £237m of additional societal value.

The stadium plans will be followed by a separate outline planning application for Goodison Park, with the intention for both applications to be determined by Liverpool City Council at the same time.

The planning milestone follows more than two years of consultation with the general public, city stakeholders and fans, which has revealed widespread support for the proposals.

Writing in the blog post, Colin Chong said: “I’m pleased to confirm that our detailed planning application for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock will be submitted on Monday, 23 December.

“Working alongside our design consultants, we have analysed the feedback to enhance the concepts we’ve already shared for the look, feel and layout of a stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, including our plans to not only preserve, but to also celebrate the site’s heritage.

“It is a case of evolution rather than any major changes to the design presented during the second stage consultation.

“The results of that consultation made it clear Dan Meis’s design was incredibly well received. The elements that the feedback told us people really loved about the design – the use of brick, the steepness of the stands, the respect to the area’s heritage and nod to Archibald Leitch’s architecture in the brickwork as well as the blending of new and old – will all be present within our final proposals.”

The blog also provides more details of the technical assessments which have gone into the final proposals.

These have included using fluid dynamics software to map how fans, staff and visitors will move around the stadium, Fan Plaza and public areas, and detailed studies of the acoustics at Goodison Park, which have been used to help create a “sense of intimacy in a larger space” and to “maximise the atmosphere” within new stadium.

The club has confirmed it will be releasing new images of the final designs, as well as updating its app and flythrough video, on evertonfc.com and peoples-project.co.uk from the afternoon of Monday, December 23.

In November, the club revealed the results of its record-breaking public consultation for the People’s Project, which generated more than 63,000 responses across two stages of public engagement.

Analysis of the data revealed that 96% of the 43,039 respondents to the second stage of consultation wanted The People’s Project to continue, and that eight out of 10 non-Evertonians also support the progression of the plans.

In what is believed to be the largest commercial public consultation in Liverpool’s history, the results showed near universal support (98%) for Dan Meis’s design of the club’s 52,000-seater stadium, which will form part of Peel L&P’s £5.5bn Liverpool Waters development, and 92% support for Everton’s outline design for the redevelopment of Goodison Park.

The club’s first stage public consultation, carried out in November and December 2018, was also met with overwhelming support with 94% of the 20,168 respondents backing the principle of a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and 95% supporting Everton’s plans for a community-led regeneration at Goodison Park.

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