Results tagged “Stadium” from Everton Banter - Join the debate with EFC fans, staff writers and club legends

David Bartlett, reporting from Everton's extraordinary general meeting this evening, tells us that the club has confirmed its commitment to the move to Kirkby.
It had been thought that the club could abandon its plan for a new stadium there after the Government called the plans in, potentially delaying the move for several months at least.
See tomorrow's Daily Post for report and analysis

A PUBLIC inquiry date has been set for Everton FC and Tesco's joint bid to build a stadium and superstore in Kirkby.

Story by Neil Hodgson

THE government call-in of Everton's Kirkby project could see the club lose its talented manager, according to professor Tom Cannon.

The former head of Manchester Business School, chief executive of Liverpool-based Ideaopolis International and Everton fan said the loss of revenues from a proposed 55,000-seat stadium in Kirkby will seriously hamper David Moyes' efforts to take his side forward.

Kirkby-born Prof Cannon said: "Everton's revenue stream will be down by £10m a year just in gate revenues by staying at Goodison.

EVERTON FC'S proposed move to Kirkby has been "called in" for an inquiry by the government, in a move that the club has previously said could "kill off" the entire project.

The public inquiry into the scheme, which was predicted by the Daily Post in April, is likely to take up to a year to complete, and the financial ramifications of that could derail the £400m project which includes a Tesco supermarket.

The Department for Communities and Local Government, which oversaw the decision, said ministers had "thought long and hard about the case and decided the only appropriate decision was to call it in".

A spokesman for the department said: "We recognise that there have been strong views expressed about this complex proposal.

"Ministers thought long and hard about the case and decided the only appropriate decision was to call it in."

Story by Richard Down

THE Government has delayed making a decision over whether Everton FC and Tesco's bid to build a stadium and giant superstore in Kirkby should face a public inquiry.

The Government Office for the North West (GONW) has been scrutinising "Destination Kirkby" since Knowsley Council's planning committee approved the scheme on June 10.

Officials have to decide whether to recommend that Secretary of State Hazel Blears should "call in" the application for a public inquiry.

I have tried to avoid the subject.

I have racked my brain for something light hearted and uplifting to say but my mind keeps falling back into the unavoidable issue generations of blues are debating and arguing over.

My attempt to ride along with the process of building a new stadium and accepting whatever the journey brings has failed miserably. I was of the mind that what will be will be and despite my reservations about the move I was willing to put my trust (although some will say I was hugely naive) in the Everton hierachy to deliver a stadium we could not afford to not move to.

THIS report from DTZ, detailing the actual cost of a new Everton stadium in Kirkby, would certainly appear to suggest that Tesco are not in fact in the habit of giving money away, whether their chairman is an Evertonian or not.

Any new ground is certainly not going to be free, with the club expected to stump up a £78million share of the costs.

The question raised then, is whether that still represents 'the deal of the century'. Actually, perhaps even the rhetoric isn't really that important, although given the recent experience with the Kings Dock, the powers that might have considered reining in their hyperbole from the start.