Liverpool Football Club must try again to win council backing as it looks to make permanent a road closure behind its expanded Anfield Road stand.
The application, which comes in tandem with a variation of planning conditions around summer events, sees LFC seeking to amend a legal agreement over the closure of Anfield Road. A planning committee today gave a “minded to refuse” verdict, in the face of officer recommendation.
Granted a temporary closure while construction work took place, the stretch of road has never been reopened. Now owned by LFC, it has been redesigned and realigned. While opponents accept match and event day closures, there has been and remains anger that the road remains closed at all times to vehicles.
A decision was deferred at June’s committee, with a site visit booked in for members immediately before today’s session.
An item that would ultimately take close to two hours to determine kicked off with Ryan & May’s Sam Ryan, the club’s planning advisor for 25 years, spelling out the benefits of the project.
Ryan pointed out the upsides of the attractive walking route right around the ground that is now in place, and was included within the spatial regeneration framework for the area – a programme that has also seen hefty investment in parks and housing.
Concerns raised by local ward councillors from the previous meeting were reiterated, and added to by the appearance – speaking as a resident rather than in any official capacity – of the MP for West Derby Ian Byrne, a dedicated Reds fan and the co-founder of Fans Supporting Foodbanks in 2015.
He said: “It is with a sense of sadness and betrayal that we are here today. We as a council and a city made a commitment to the residents of Anfield that this road would be reopened.”
Noting his disappointment at “listening to officers arguing for Liverpool FC”, Byrne continued that the area as a whole has a “terrible” history with LFC, noting that historically, “the list is endless” when it comes to the club pushing forward various expansion plans.
Byrne concluded: “We thought we were on the right path, and it has been a better relationship, but this will knock it back years.”
The case made by the club – and effectively endorsed by the council’s building control department in outlining the safety points, informing the officer recommendation to approve – leans heavily on safety and security concerns, referencing enhanced terror threat levels.
Both this argument and that of the “trip hazards” presented by a more traditional highway and pavement layout than the plaza-style space now in situ were greeted with some cynicism in the chamber.
Among those speaking was Cllr Billy Lake, who said: “I sat in the old Anfield Road stand for 20 years, was there for all the big games, and don’t recall the old road being a trip hazard at all.” Cllr Joe Hanson accused the club of being “completely disingenuous”.
Planning officer Felicity Collins and Andy Mollon, director of sustainable transport and highways at LCC, answered a series of questions as to the reasons for recommending approval.
The issue is an unusual one. This stretch of road is now privately held, by LFC, and redesigned in more of a plaza style than a through-route. The club cannot be compelled to rework it again, but seemingly will need to rethink things to resolve what has become a problem.
When committee chair Cllr Tom Cardwell moved to approve, in line with officer recommendation, a counter-motion to refuse was immediately raised by Cllr Declan Henry, seconded by Cllr Richard Kemp, who also successfully raised the point that city engineers should submit a report to cabinet regarding the highways issues.
Cllr Henry’s motion called for refusal on three grounds, relating to traffic flow, impact on residents’ amenity, and environmental nuisance. This carried the day.
Project documents can be viewed on the LCC planning portal, using the reference 24F/2963.