Everton Kirkby inquiry: Shops now 'vital' after Bellefield plans fail

At the public inquiry into Destination Kirkby, Patrick Clarkson, Everton and Tesco's QC, said: "The simple point about Bellefield is that element of contribution towards the stadium has been lost, and so the urgency for funding the stadium is there, isn't it?"

He fired the question at Andrew Peplar, an adviser to Liverpool City Council on retail matters.

Mr Peplar's evidence argued that the sheer scale and reach of the edge of town shops that Tesco intends to build alongside its new superstore and Everton's stadium is too big.

He ran through a series of documents outlining his case against the plans on the grounds it conflicts with retail policy.

But yesterday Mr Clarkson, in cross-examination, won an admission from him that Everton's stadium would have some regenerative effect.

He added: "Substantial weight should now be given to the fact there is a substantial cross- subsidy for the stadium in that case?"

Mr Peplar did not agree. Instead, he questioned whether the whole project was in fact an "Enabling Development" - one that breaks policy rules but is thought to be of such benefit to the community that it can be allowed.

Mr Peplar said: "When the application started out, it was the retail that was going to pay for the stadium. This is an enabling development."

But Mr Clarkson responded: "Our case is that it is within policy."

Mr Clarkson went on to attack Liverpool's claims that such a huge shopping development in Kirkby would affect Liverpool city centre and the new £1bn Liverpool One.

He said: "You're not going to say to this arena that you have concerns for Liverpool One in people taking units in this development?"

Mr Peplar said: "When you've just set in place an improved regional centre, to start surrounding it with large developments that haven't come about through the development process is not advantageous.

"I'm concerned about the impact it will have on confidence in the city centre," he added.

Mr Clarkson said: "It will have no material effect and, if I may say so talking of retailer's confidence is the last resort of a rogue."

The relationship between Everton FC and Liverpool City Council appears to be increasingly strained, as David Bartlett reports

"IT DOES now seem as if certain individuals and the council are determined to ruin Everton Football Club".

Those shocking words were used by a source close to the football club, in yesterday's Daily Post, after it lost a public inquiry to build homes on its former training ground.

They are sure to send reverberations around the local authority - but are they justified?

When news reached Goodison Park, on Tuesday, that the club had lost the inquiry to build 74 homes on Bellefield, in West Derby, it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Liverpool council officers had originally recommended the housing scheme be approved but the elected members on the planning committee rejected it unanimously.

Everton's acting chief executive Robert Elstone said: "The truly disappointing aspect of this is that the politicians who run this city went against the recommendations of the city council's own planning experts.

"In such circumstances, you have to ask why that is?"

In the view of the Everton FC hierarchy, it appeared to be the culmination of months of manoeuvring by Liverpool City Council to try to stop the club's plans to move to Kirkby as part of a £400m development with Tesco.

The council wants the club to stay within the Liverpool city boundaries, particularly council leader and Everton season ticket holder Warren Bradley. But would the council leader want to "ruin" his beloved club? The answer must surely be no.

Everton believes that, only by moving to a new stadium in Kirkby can it safeguard the financial future of the club, whereas Cllr Bradley and the council clearly think otherwise.

"What are Everton fans getting? A glorified cow shed built in a small town outside Liverpool," Cllr Bradley famously said last year.

"The problem is Everton at the moment does not have the money itself to invest in a new quality stadium. That is why the club should realise it is time for new partners to move in."

At an extraordinary general meeting last year, club chairman Bill Kenwright reiterated his desire to sell Everton, although some fans have become increasingly disconcerted that he has not yet found a new owner to his liking.

The club agrees with Cllr Bradley that the main issue here is affordability. The Kirkby model, which includes a large retail element, offers the club the chance for a new stadium for a contribution of only £78m.

The cost of building a new ground will be much more than that, but the cross- subsidy provided by shopping means Everton gets a new stadium that it might not otherwise be able to afford.

In defence of the allegation the city has done nothing to help, the council points to a number of sites it has offered the club to build a new stadium.

But, in the club's view, none of the options were affordable.

There are also those at Goodison who perceive that a red carpet has been laid out for their rivals Liverpool to build a new ground on Stanley Park - the famous city landmark that divides the two great clubs.

In developing the package to fund its £78m contribution, Everton believed it would be able to sell Bellefield for up to £10m.

Yesterday's decision put paid to that, at least in the short term.

The club say it will find the money from elsewhere, but was furious.

Labour opposition leader Joe Anderson believes the decision was symptomatic of the "breakdown in trust" between the club and the council. Had there been more dialogue, Cllr Anderson believes Everton FC would have achieved planning permission. The club is also sore at the council's formal objection to the Destination Kirkby scheme - currently at public inquiry - seeing it as another example of its intent to scupper its move away.

The council claims it only objected because of the huge retail element that goes with the stadium.

And Liverpool was certainly not the only council to object, with Sefton, St Helens, and West Lancs also lodging objections on retail grounds, and they will not be suffering the possible loss of a Premier League club.

The relationship between Liverpool City Council and Everton FC is clearly at a very low ebb, but both could yet be forced into a reconciliation.

If the inquiry into Destination Kirkby were to reject the new stadium, Mr Elstone and Cllr Bradley may be back round the same table once again.