The Liverpool City council’s planning committee have granted permission to the Liverpool football club to expand the seating arrangements of the stadium which will probably see the Anfield stadium capacity reach just below 60,000 seats.
The current capacity is of 45,500 to which 8,500 more seats will be added in the main stand in the first phase. In the second phase, the club will add 4,800 more seats.
The entire seat expansion plan will cost around £75m which is a part of the £260m regeneration of the Anfield area. The main objections at the planning meeting on Tuesday were traffic, transport concerns and anger at the dereliction that has blighted the area to get to this stage.
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The construction will start next year and will get completed before the start of 2016/2017 season. The time estimated for the completion of the seat expansion by the contractors is around 22 months. The ground will still be used for matches while the construction is going on. A Hillsborough memorial is likely to be added in the scheme.
Liverpool’s CEO said to the media- ‘approval by the Planning Committee is another step on our journey which we embarked on nearly two years ago. ‘We’ve received very positive support for our proposals during a public consultation exercise earlier this year and whilst we are delighted about the progress made today, there are still some steps that we need to navigate through in order to give us the certainty that we need to proceed with our expansion plans.’
This expansion approval surely means that we will now be able to see a new and rejuvenated Liverpool stadium.
