New plans are being put together for managing the arrival of fans at Everton's new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium.
Liverpool City Council has launched a consultation on extending the Football Match Parking Zone around the new stadium, which is currently under construction and due to open for the 2024-5 season.
The parking zone already exists for both of the city’s current major football stadiums at Goodison Park and Anfield.
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Given the scale of the events to be hosted at Everton’s brand new 52,888 capacity stadium, the council is asking for views from residents, businesses and other stakeholders on introducing new controls in the area when the venue is hosting events.
Although not yet complete, the stadium has already been named as a potential host venue in the FA’s bid for the UEFA European Championships in 2028 and will also be capable of hosting major non-footballing events.
The proposals focus on the area within a 30-minute walk of Everton Stadium, which will encompass the surrounding Ten Streets district and into the city centre. These include:
- New resident parking areas
- New taxi ranks
- New match day bus stands
- New parking restrictions
- New hours of operation for existing parking zones for the Great Homer Street area
- New hours of operation for existing parking zones for the Ten Streets and Love Lane areas
- New industrial parking zone south of Boundary Street
- New industrial parking zone north of Boundary Street
The overall aim of the controls is to reduce congestion, improve air quality, safety and journey times to and from the stadium. The proposals have also been designed to complement the modernisation of parking across the city centre, the plans for which is also currently the subject of a public consultation.
Liverpool City Council has already invested more than £20m in the highways infrastructure around Bramley-Moore Dock, including a permanent segregated cycle lane running from the city centre up to Liverpool’s northern border at Bootle in Sefton, which passes right in front of the new stadium.
Details of the three-week long consultation can be found online at https://liverpool.gov.uk/bramleymoorepermits which includes a survey and an FAQs document explaining the proposed scheme and its implications.
People can provide additional feedback by email or request the relevant documents in alternative formats, by writing to: liverpooltraffic@amey.co.uk
As well being able to provide feedback online, the council will also be hosting a hat-trick of consultation events on
- Tuesday 6 December, 10am to 6pm – Ten Streets Social, 8 Regent Rd, L3 7BX
- Tuesday 13 December, 10am to 6pm – Kirkdale Neighbourhood Community Centre, 238A Stanley Road, L5 7QP
- Thursday 15 December, 10am to 6pm – Vauxhall Neighbourhood Council, Blenheim Street, L5 8UX
Once the consultation closes at 5pm on Tuesday, December 22 the responses will be collated and fed back to the Divisional Manager for Highways and Transportation toward the end of January 2023.
A decision will then be made on whether or not to proceed with the proposals or amend them in any way. If the proposals are agreed, a statutory notification process will begin in early Spring, when for a period of 28 days, members of the public can submit their formal objection or support for the proposed scheme.
Councillor Liam Robinson, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “Everton Stadium is going to be a real game changer for the surrounding Ten Streets district and the wider Kirkdale community.
“As well as the much anticipated and needed economic benefit, the vast volume of people the stadium will attract – and how they arrive and depart - needs to be carefully managed.
“The North Docks area has never had to cope with such large numbers of people in such concentrated time periods but fortunately the city has the experience and knowledge thanks to Goodison Park and Anfield. By extending the match day parking zone, we’ll be looking to adopt and incorporate those controls which so effectively move tens of thousands on a weekly basis.
“Bramley-Moore Dock is also a unique location given its very close proximity to the city centre and the fact the surrounding transport infrastructure is well developed – be it the new cycle lane to the nearby train station at Sandhills. We’ll be looking to encourage as many active travel options as possible for those attending the games or other events there, which is a win-win for everyone in terms of managing congestion and air quality and promoting healthy habits.
“There’s lots of residents and businesses who will be affected by these proposals and we want as many people as possible to read them and ask questions of them. Only through their feedback can we refine and improve the proposals before we look at the next stage of a formal statutory notification process. Of course we want to hear from Everton fans too and I look forward to the responses to help us make the decisions that best suits the needs of all involved.”
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