The Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, has said that a new Everton stadium could play a key role in bringing the Commonwealth Games to Liverpool.
Liverpool City council and Everton are now looking at two new brownfield sites after the announcement that plans for Walton Hall Park had been scrapped.
The identity of the proposed new sites are understood to be Stonebridge Cross and a waterfront location in north Liverpool’s dockland.
Joe Anderson said he could not comment on the locations but did confirm he expects the new stadium to be built within three years.
He has branded the tight timeframe ‘doable’ and said he “would not have stuck my neck out and said it if it wasn’t”.
Mayor Anderson told the Liverpool Echo that a new stadium for Everton could host “not just the Commonwealth Games but things like the European Athletics championships and other sporting events – it could be good for the city region and the bid for the Games”.
He added: “The new ground, when it’s getting built, could accommodate that.
“And most of these events take place outside the football season so the ground could be used all year round.”
Anderson said he is “in the process of setting up a meeting with ministers to discuss us bidding for the Games” and talks about financing it.
According to Mayor Anderson, the relocation of plans mean that they should be easier to proceed with, as they do not include any regeneration elements.
The new sites are classed as ‘brownfield sites’ and as such they no longer would require Government approval in the same way Walton Hall Park and Everton’s failed 2009 move to Kirkby did.