Everton’s new £500million stadium gets council approval

Everton’s application for a new £500million stadium at Bramley-Moore dock has been approved by Liverpool city council.

New designs for the 52,888-capacity stadium were released in September last year and Tuesday’s council verdict means Everton’s departure from Goodison Park has taken a major step forward.

The council unanimously approved the proposal for the new stadium and the hope is that Everton can complete the works between 2023 and 2024.

Sefton Borough Council declared their support for Everton’s proposal in principle as they said they believe the stadium has significant potential to bring opportunities to the local economy and regeneration to the wider area.

Eleven councillors delivered the momentous verdict on Tuesday as they deliberated on plans that were initially submitted in December 2019, before an updated version was filed in September 2020.

Cllr Steve Radford said he was ‘absolutely impressed’ by the club’s presentation.

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Procedure now dictates that given the scale of the project, the plans will go to Secretary of State Robert Jenrick’s office. But gaining local approval on the proposals is a big step forward for the development.

Everton are convinced the ‘world-class’ development will regenerate the semi-derelict area of the the city’s northern docklands, contributing a £1billion boost to the local economy, creating up to 15,000 jobs and attracting 1.5m visitors to the city each year.