http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-fcs-anfield-development-plans-7818168
Liverpool FC's historic plan to extend Anfield stadium have been unanimously approved by city planners.
They agreed to give the go ahead to the scheme - which will see an extra 13,000 seats added to the Main Stand and Anfield Road End - at Liverpool town hall this morning.
Spokesmen for Liverpool FC have said they believe their plans reflect its owners' desire to keep a traditional "four stand configuration" and tha the main stand will become one of the biggest in the country.
Peter Swift told the committee: "This is as much about grounding the stadium in the community as it is making it work on match days."
But objectors said they believed the plans would have major negative impacts on the neighbourhood, causing traffic chaos and damaging local businesses.
Bill McGarry, of the Anfield Neighbourhood Forum, told the committee the people of Anfield needed compensation for the community from those whose "neglect and ruthlessness" has "engineered decline".
Committee member Cllr Steve Radford quizzed the club's traffic management team over the fact that Merseytravel has raised concerns that there is a "zero growth" strategy in terms of the number of buses carrying fans to games, despite an extra 13,000 seats being installed.
Cllr Radford referred to a document which suggested currently up to 68% of people going to the match got there by car.
Dave Mott, from consultants McDonald Mott, conceded there had been "an alarming number of people travelling to games by taxi rather than by bus", but said the club was working with the transport authorities to try to make sure there was the least impact on the community by traffic.
Objector Mike Butler, who lives in the nearby streets, said the club's claims that the reason for the dereliction in the area was low property values leading to abandonment was an "outrageous untruth".
He added: "The applicants themselves are responsible for stage managed decline of the area. Houses were not available, they were boarded up and left.
"The applicant knows this is a lie, the council knows it's a lie, and the residents know it's a lie."
The work will take around 20 months to complete, with the construction of the new stand taking place while the stadium continues to be used for matches.
The capacity will increase to up to 58,000 and the main stand will increase from 26 metres tall to 45 metres, which planning officers themselves admitted was a "substantial increase".
Objectors complained about the loss of daylight to the houses nearby but planning officer Fergal McEvoy said the amount of daylight reaching local homes had been tested on up to 700 properties, and that the effects would be negligible.
In response to concerns about the effect on Stanley Park - which will be built into with an 'avenue' in memory of the Hillsborough victims, as well as a 'food hub', he said it would be minimal.
He added: "While the proposed development would increase the scale and massing (of the stadium) to the extent it would be visible and seen from additional areas of the park, it would be from less sensitive, informal landscapes within the park grounds."
Chairman Cllr John Macintosh, summing up, said: "I've heard what everyone has said today. We've had the history and I don't want to go back over those days, I could put forward my own views on what happened and things that went wrong.
"We are at this planning stage now and we have to move forward and carry on."
Liverpool FC's historic plan to extend Anfield stadium have been unanimously approved by city planners.
They agreed to give the go ahead to the scheme - which will see an extra 13,000 seats added to the Main Stand and Anfield Road End - at Liverpool town hall this morning.
Spokesmen for Liverpool FC have said they believe their plans reflect its owners' desire to keep a traditional "four stand configuration" and tha the main stand will become one of the biggest in the country.
Peter Swift told the committee: "This is as much about grounding the stadium in the community as it is making it work on match days."
But objectors said they believed the plans would have major negative impacts on the neighbourhood, causing traffic chaos and damaging local businesses.
Bill McGarry, of the Anfield Neighbourhood Forum, told the committee the people of Anfield needed compensation for the community from those whose "neglect and ruthlessness" has "engineered decline".
Committee member Cllr Steve Radford quizzed the club's traffic management team over the fact that Merseytravel has raised concerns that there is a "zero growth" strategy in terms of the number of buses carrying fans to games, despite an extra 13,000 seats being installed.
Cllr Radford referred to a document which suggested currently up to 68% of people going to the match got there by car.
Dave Mott, from consultants McDonald Mott, conceded there had been "an alarming number of people travelling to games by taxi rather than by bus", but said the club was working with the transport authorities to try to make sure there was the least impact on the community by traffic.
Objector Mike Butler, who lives in the nearby streets, said the club's claims that the reason for the dereliction in the area was low property values leading to abandonment was an "outrageous untruth".
He added: "The applicants themselves are responsible for stage managed decline of the area. Houses were not available, they were boarded up and left.
"The applicant knows this is a lie, the council knows it's a lie, and the residents know it's a lie."
The work will take around 20 months to complete, with the construction of the new stand taking place while the stadium continues to be used for matches.
The capacity will increase to up to 58,000 and the main stand will increase from 26 metres tall to 45 metres, which planning officers themselves admitted was a "substantial increase".
Objectors complained about the loss of daylight to the houses nearby but planning officer Fergal McEvoy said the amount of daylight reaching local homes had been tested on up to 700 properties, and that the effects would be negligible.
In response to concerns about the effect on Stanley Park - which will be built into with an 'avenue' in memory of the Hillsborough victims, as well as a 'food hub', he said it would be minimal.
He added: "While the proposed development would increase the scale and massing (of the stadium) to the extent it would be visible and seen from additional areas of the park, it would be from less sensitive, informal landscapes within the park grounds."
Chairman Cllr John Macintosh, summing up, said: "I've heard what everyone has said today. We've had the history and I don't want to go back over those days, I could put forward my own views on what happened and things that went wrong.
"We are at this planning stage now and we have to move forward and carry on."
