Reds cautious over stadium plan changes

Liverpool hope any changes to their new stadium plans can be achieved within the same timescale and planning ’footprint’ already outlined.

Revelations that new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have commissioned a review of the plans for the club’s new 60,000-capacity Stanley Park home have caused consternation among Liverpool City Council and community officials.

Chief executive Rick Parry said: “A review is in progress, but the new owners are very aware of the current planning approval and it’s link with the regeneration of the surrounding area.”

Parry took almost five years of discussions with council and community leaders to get the current plans through a torturous planning process and the club has no wish open up the debate again after so much opposition and appealing.

The whole scheme only won approval because it was part of a major EU-backed scheme to improve the area around the stadium.

An increased capacity would mean major discussions with regard to the infrastructure, parking and the road network around the Stanley Park scheme, which would be time-consuming and very difficult to achieve.

It is believed Hicks and Gillett have been made aware of the intricacies of English planning law and the effect any major changes would have on the city’s regeneration plans for the Anfield area.

Suggestions of an increase to an 80,000-capacity stadium have been dismissed by Parry, who said: “I have no idea where that idea has come from, seemingly plucked out of the air.”

He added: “We are planning that the stadium would be completed within two or three years and we do not want to alter those plans. There is no desire to start the whole planning process again.”

Hicks and Gillett are looking to tweak the current plans, but are aware of the need to stay within the footprint of the current planning applications.

They believe there is some scope to add more seating and part of that idea is one already voiced by the US moguls to explore the possibility of underground executive boxes, a familiar part of stadiums in the States.

If Hicks and Gillett can get perhaps another 5,000 to 10,000 into the stadium, that would be the very top level being considered.

Liverpool City Council is believed to have already been made aware of the new ideas, which have not been met with initial opposition.

Council leader Warren Bradley, in a Daily Post interview, has warned: “If Liverpool FC want somewhere bigger they’ve got to understand the planning process.

“The last thing we need is the regeneration of the Anfield/Breckfield area to be stalled if Liverpool brings forward a new plan.

“It could put it in jeopardy now that the plans have gone through the planning process and appeals.

"It is important that the people of Anfield/Breckfield see the plans moving forward that will bring a new park and district centre.”