EVERTON Football Club is to leave one of the world’s oldest football stadiums – Goodison Park – for a brand new home just up the road - in Walton Hall Park.
The 120-acre park becomes the third city green space this year to face development, after the Meadowlands and Woolton Woods.
A proposed new stadium for the People’s Club will form the centrepiece of a multi-million pound regeneration programme, made public at one minute past midnight.
It will mean Everton FC leaving Goodison, its home since 1892, flitting about a kilometre up the A580 to Walton Hall Park, described as one of the city’s most “underused parks”
Following the long saga of the Toffees' proposed move to Kirkby, this could be a dream come true for Everton’s theatre impresario chairman, Bill Kenwright. On the other hand, it may well be seen as a nightmare for those in the north end of Liverpool who currently enjoy views and tranquillity across park lands.
Kenwright said: “On my journey to our home games, as I pass Walton Hall Park, I inevitably think that I am only a minute away from our beloved Goodison. For several years now, I’ve also thought, if only it was available for our new stadium, it ticks all the boxes.
“An opportunity to explore the possibility of securing the new home we’ve looked for, for so long, is hugely exciting to me, but to do that in a way that supports, transforms and sustains our local communities, in our Everton heartland, is such a wonderful, added bonus. It would fill me with great pride. It could be something very special for our city, the residents of North Liverpool and all Evertonians - a new home that goes beyond football and does what Everton does better than anyone else.”
His comments came in a city council statement which went on: “Of course, there’s an enormous amount of work to do – that again, involves fixing a huge financial jigsaw – but we are certain it’s an opportunity we should pursue with great commitment, endeavour and ambition. To get every aspect right will take time as well as the continued support we’ve received to date from Joe Anderson and his colleagues at the City Council. That partnership will be vital.
“Like all Evertonians, I love Goodison Park and have done since the day I first set foot in the Boy’s Pen but the prospect of developing a new stadium, and a new and vibrant community, just down the road from us, is to be grasped and encouraged.”
Financing for the scheme will be led by Everton Football Club with support from a number of partners including Liverpool Mutual Homes and Everton in the Community.
The club says it expects a planning application to be lodged in about a year, but only after an extensive consultation exercise with the local community and Everton fans.
Rivals Liverpool FC have already abandoned plans to build a new £450m stadium on Stanley Park, opting instead to expand Anfield.
The new scheme was announced jointly by Liverpool City Council and Everton Football Club, describing the project as a “transformational regeneration opportunity for North Liverpool”, parts of which form some of the most socially deprived areas in the UK.
The commitment to explore the development of Walton Hall Park follows an exhaustive search for suitable sites within the city for a new home for Everton.
The outline of the proposed scheme, says the council, seeks to embrace extensive, new community facilities and secure up to 1,250 new jobs.
Mayor Joe Anderson said: “I am really pleased that we have identified this exciting opportunity for north Liverpool. We know that this is an area of the city that requires substantial investment and this project could bring this in a unique form.
“Everton’s investment into this area would be the catalyst for a development which could make a real difference. We know from other regeneration schemes that opportunities like this can lead to significant economic and social benefits. This scheme would generate significant new job opportunities and also address important social needs such as health and education."
