Liverpool receives grant for new stadium

Premier League club Liverpool plans to start work on a planned new 60,000-capacity all-seater stadium after having secured 'keystone' European funding for its project development plans according to the BBC.

A European Union Objective One grant of GBP 9 million will be spent on regenerating the area around the Stanley Park site which the money was agreed after Liverpool was able to provide guarantees that the GBP 180 million funding for the entire project is in place.

They can now also claim GBP 5 million from Liverpool City Council and GBP 8.9 million from the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The city council approved a 999-year lease on the stadium site - which is 300 yards away from Anfield on Sept. 8.

Planning permission for the scheme came with the provison that investment would be made in the surrounding area, including the park. The European money will not be spent on the new stadium, but on schemes such as the creation of a shop-lined plaza on the site of their current Anfield home.

"It's another significant step forward in our plans for the building of a new stadium, which we have always seen as a catalyst for the regeneration of the whole area," Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry said Councilor Flo Clucas, chairman of the Objective One project selection sub-committee, said this is a major step forward for the people of Anfield. "It will underpin substantial investment by other partners, whose commitment will help transform the neighbourhood."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.