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Everton’s plans for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore
Dock and a community-led legacy at Goodison Park, dubbed The People’s Project,
is a ‘missing piece in the jigsaw’ of Liverpool’s regeneration and will make a
‘major contribution to the city’s world-famous waterfront’, experts have
claimed.
Commenting on Everton Football Club’s planning
application to build a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, Professor Michael
Parkinson, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Civic Engagement at the University
of Liverpool, said the plans were a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for the
city.
Professor Parkinson, author of Liverpool Beyond the
Brink – which chronicles the city’s regeneration and ongoing challenges – said
the plans would allow North Liverpool to enjoy a share of the city’s
regeneration.
He said: “If you look at what the city has done in
the last 30 years it’s been brilliant – we did the waterfront, the city centre
and South Liverpool, but we really didn’t do North Liverpool.
“That’s beginning to happen – with Liverpool ONE,
Liverpool 2, the Titanic Hotel and the Ten Streets project. The stadium is the
piece in the jigsaw that would make it really happen – and mean North Liverpool
would get its fair share [of regeneration] in the way that other areas have
over the last 20 years.
“Regeneration will happen but if you bookend it with
a project of this scale, this significance and this quality it will guarantee
regeneration and, most importantly, speed it up. A development of this quality
will set the bar for what happens in that area of the city for the next
decade.”
The plans will also provide a major boon to the
development of Liverpool’s waterfront, according to Sue Grindrod, who is
credited with maintaining the Royal Albert Dock’s status as the North West’s
most visited free tourist attraction.
“The waterfront is a great international visual that
people recognise and having Bramley-Moore Dock developed will only add to
that,” explained Sue, who is Chair of Liverpool Waterfront Business Partnership
and the former Chief Executive of the Royal Albert Dock.
Drawing on the economic boost which the stadium
plans would provide, Professor Parkinson backed the stadium as too good an
opportunity for the city to miss, adding: “I think it’s desperately important,
because we’ve had two or three critical projects in the last 30 years which
have defined the development of the city for a long period.
“We’re looking for the next £1bn impact project –
and I think this is it. I don’t see another project of this scale and if it
didn’t happen it would be a tremendous loss because the city needs another
step.
“We have done very well in the last 20 years, but
we’re still too small an economy. This is a direct contributor. Quite apart
from the physical regeneration of North Liverpool and the advantage it will bring
for Everton, there is a direct economic benefit to the people of Liverpool.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. A huge
investment at that location at this point in time is enormously significant.”
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Credit: www.fcbusiness.co.uk
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