The development of the new Everton Stadium has brought to light transport and infrastructure concerns at Liverpool’s Northern Docks.
Everton are set to leave Goodison Park, their home since 1892, at the end of the season.
Their new state-of-the-art stadium is located at the Bramley-Moore Dock and will hold 52,888 fans.
It is an exciting time for Evertonians, as they approach their 72nd consecutive season in the topflight of English football, and many have praised the stadium after its first two test events.
The first test event took place in February, hosting an under-18s friendly fixture against Wigan Athletic, with a capacity of 10,000 spectators.
The second saw more than 25,000 fans in attendance as Everton under-21s beat Bolton Wanderers B 1-0, with both events hailed a huge success.
However, both events also revealed major transport issues getting to and from the stadium
Fans are expected to either park in city centre car parks and walk 30 minutes or get the Merseyrail from Sandhills station, which was massively overcrowded even with just half the stadium capacity in attendance
Steve Dickinson, author and creator of https://www.unofficialevertontimeline.com/, is a season ticket holder at Goodison Park who attended the first test event.
He said: “When I look around the demographic at Goodison there are lots of people in my age category and older so I think the basic assumption that people will either get public transport or walk from one of the many town centre car parks is challenging for some people.
“Sandhills, which has been flagged as this great solution, has a very small capacity on a day-by-day basis, it’s never going to carry more than about 15,000 passengers.
“Even then, they are going to have to stand in the rain and queue up for a long time so that’s no good.”
Steve has called for more transport options, such as more buses, more frequent trains in and out of Sandhills, park and ride schemes, and multi-storey car parks around the stadium.
But there are bigger concerns than fans getting to and from the football.
Everton’s new ground is supposed to be part of a Northern Docks regeneration scheme called Liverpool Waters, but there seems to be a lack of any developments with this.
Steve said: “When you look at the planning around the Albert Dock and the King’s Dock, it’s great.
“Those areas were derelict going back to the 1980s, but people put in the infrastructure, put in the car parking and have created really world-class visitor attractions.
“It’s not just about whinging Evertonians wanting car parking five minutes from the stadium, there are much bigger issues and there’s a lack of information.”
He, alongside others believe there is a ‘complete absence of a plan’ despite the fact that the stadium was granted planning permission back in 2021, so there has been plenty of time to start redeveloping the area.
Problems have also arisen for local businesses, with the introduction of parking restrictions within a 30-minute walk of the stadium for 365 days of the year.
The restrictions have currently been suspended, but for business owners Saleh Ahmed and Stephen Swainbank, there are major concerns that they will return.
Saleh, owner of L3 grill and L3 general store, said he is losing a lot of customers.
“Customers are coming in, they’re eating in a rush, looking out of the window to see if they’re getting a ticket, it makes you not want to do this job anymore.”
He has spent over £150,000 on his two shops and has had to fight to be allowed to stay open past 11pm, just to be faced with parking restrictions.
Saleh described it as ‘four months of hell’ and has been having to get his deliveries from the bottom of the road because there are double yellow lines everywhere.
Stephen Swainbank, owner of the antique shop across the road, has his own car park but customers haven’t been able to access it because of roads being closed.
The Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotherham, has said that the council is open to making further changes to ensure the best possible outcome for residents and businesses.
He is confident that the new stadium ‘can be the catalyst for the growth of a new wave of housing, businesses and economic development in the years ahead’.
When it comes to transport for Everton fans, he has said that all parties will continue to listen to the voices of fans and are fully committed to continuous improvement of the matchday travel experience.
(featured image by Ellie Harker)
