Liverpool Football Club is get going with its second-stage public consultation on the proposed expansion of Anfield Road stand. The second-stage consultation will start from February 6, 2020.
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England and is the home ground of Liverpool Football Club.
The professional football club of Liverpool, England, tasted success in its first-stage consultation held in December last year. The first-stage consultation saw more than 800 responses, majority of it being positive. After hearing out local residents, businesses and fans, the club has taken a relook at its initial proposed plans.
Few of the local residents were wary about the proposed closure of a section of Anfield Road. The reviewed plans, which will be made available to the public in early part of February, will include a new proposal for Anfield Road to remain open with the road realigned around the footprint of the proposed expanded stand. The club has agreed to reroute the highway around the proposed new stand rather than close it completely.
Reactions from few residents during the first stage of consultation which ran in December 2019 led to a change to the original design for the redecorated stand which will add another 7,000 seats, taking the capacity up to 61,000. The present capacity of the facility stands at 54,074.
Six drop-in events which took place at Anfield on match days and non-match days formed a part of the first-stage consultation. The facility of giving feedback via an online form on Liverpoolfc.com was also made available.
Andy Hughes, Chief Operating Officer at Liverpool FC, opined, “We’d like to thank all of the local residents and representatives, businesses, community groups and fans who took the time to come to our consultation events to give us their feedback.”
“We have been clear that the proposed expansion of Anfield Road is based on three things – finding the right financial and economic model to deliver long-term sustainability, navigate the complex planning process and to have the agreement of our local residents, businesses and community groups,” he asserted.
“We have listened carefully to all the feedback we received during the first stage of our consultation. The aim of that exercise was to inform the design process of the proposals which is exactly what we have done by relooking at how we retain access for local residents through Anfield Road. These updated proposals will be shared again in full with local residents, businesses and supporters during our second-stage consultation, which will take place next month.”
Anfield’s new Main Stand opened in 2016, adding 9,000 seats to the stadium’s overall capacity.