Everton FC’s new 52,888 capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock was approved today for planning by Liverpool City Council. Mott MacDonald’s Liverpool-based transport planning team has been advising the Club on this major project for the past four years.
A key consideration of both Everton FC as well as the planning authorities was how to ensure the safe and efficient travel of fans to the new stadium.
Goodison Park has been home to Everton FC for over 125 years. The new stadium’s proposed site at Liverpool’s North Docks 3km away, not only represents a significant change in supporters’ travel routines but also a transportation challenge given the underdeveloped nature of the area.
To overcome this challenge, the transportation strategy put forward by Mott MacDonald included: match day road closures around the stadium to encourage sustainable travel choices as well as to ensure the safety of fans walking to the stadium, the construction of a fan waiting area at the nearest train station, and the provision of shuttle buses to and from Liverpool city centre and Bootle. Parking restrictions will also be in operation as part of the strategy to discourage the use of car travel on match days and reduce impact on residents, businesses, and improve general pedestrian safety.
Mott MacDonald worked closely with the City Regions transport stakeholders: Liverpool City Council, Merseytravel, the police, public transport operators and neighbouring businesses to develop a sustainable match day transport strategy to support the planning application. Collaboration with these stakeholders was key to delivering the transport strategy.
The match day road closures around the stadium combined with the fact that Bramley-Moore Dock is a thirty-minute walk from Liverpool city centre, meant there were concerns that access for some disabled fans would be difficult. As a result of Mott MacDonald’s consultation with representatives from disabled supporters’ communities, an inclusive access strategy was developed that will see a free shuttle bus service deployed for disabled fans.
Kevin Blakey, principal transport planner at Mott MacDonald, said: “It has been an honour to work with Everton FC on such an important project for the city of Liverpool and I’m personally delighted with the council’s decision to grant planning.”
“At Mott MacDonald, we work hard to improve tangible social outcomes in all we do. In this instance it was important for us not only to ensure a genuine choice of sustainable travel options, but also to work with supporter groups to make sure that the stadium was accessible and inclusive.”
Everton FC estimates that the stadium project could deliver at least a £1.3bn boost to the economy, create more than 15,000 jobs and attract 1.4m visitors to Liverpool. Mott MacDonald worked closely alongside stadium architects Pattern Design, landscape designers Planit-IE and planning consultant CBRE.