Mayor of Liverpool, healing Joe Anderson, has said that Everton FC will have a new stadium “within three years”.
The comments were made as it was revealed that plans for the Blues to move to Walton Hall Park have been scrapped.
Green space campaigners and those campaigning against the move have been celebrating today as they now hope Walton Hall Park will be protected from development.
Liverpool City Council and Everton are now said to be looking to relocate to two other potential sites for a move.
Mayor Anderson said on BBC Radio Merseyside: “I’m confident the new stadium will be up and running in three years time.
“I think there is a real acceptance by them and I’m pretty confident that within three years there will be a new stadium for Everton football club in Liverpool.”
A statement released today said “The proposed scheme at Walton Hall Park was always an ambitious one. It was a regeneration scheme that relied heavily on retail investment into the site.
“Most of the current investment into retail is focused on city centres and larger district centres and not on out-of-town developments like this would have been.”
“Most people will be aware that I did give a commitment to Everton to support a potential scheme at Walton Hall Park with the aim of regenerating the area and creating new jobs.
“However, through the work that the club and the council have done, we have concluded that effectively building a new village in North Liverpool with lots of retail space is a step too far in this current economic climate.