[lfc-news]£23m blow to new Anfield - Echo

Liverpool Echo, 20 June 2005
£23m blow to new Anfield
By Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL FC's bid for £23m of taxpayers' money for their new stadium
project has failed, the ECHO can reveal.

The Anfield club has waited months for a decision on whether the
Northwest Development Agency would grant public money for the scheme.

But the ECHO has learned the funds will not be provided by the
regeneration agency because some of it has been earmarked only for club
facilities.

Around £9m of the money would be spent on the stadium roof, soundproof
wall cladding and an underground car park.

Government officials say they cannot use public money to pay for the
construction costs of the planned £120m, 60,000-seater ground at Stanley
Park.

No one from the club was available to comment.

Agency officials are not opposed to Liverpool's plans for a new ground,
even though they would have preferred the club to share a home with
neighbours Everton.

They recognise the positive spin-offs for a new stadium for the Anfield
area, including a job-creating plaza on the site of the current ground.

So instead of putting money towards the direct costs of the stadium, the
NWDA has earmarked £23m for the regeneration of Anfield and Breckfield.

Liverpool council is now drawing up detailed proposals for projects that
the NWDA can fund.

Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA, said: "The agency is a
public organisation with public money. We cannot directly support a
private sector organisation with public sector cash.

"There are all sorts of rules preventing us doing that.

"If we were to pay direct costs, we would have a large queue of football
and other sport clubs forming, all wanting similar investment.

"Our interest in this project is not in the stadium, but the economic
regeneration and revitalisation of Anfield and Breckfield, which are
desperately in need of a lift.

"We have asked the council to come to us with proposals about how we can
support investment around Stanley Park and surrounding areas."

Council chief executive Sir David Henshaw said: "We are very pleased
that the NWDA has earmarked £23m for the regeneration of Anfield and
Breckfield.

"Now our job is to redraw the project so NWDA funding is not used for any

direct football-related activities and is instead used for other
elements of the scheme.

"This public sector investment will produce around £180m of private
sector investment, which is a great platform for the regeneration of
Anfield and Breckfield."

Richard Pedder, spokesman for Liverpool Independent Supporters Club,
said: "£9m is not a lot for a top football club when it comes down to it.

"The club is bringing in a lot of extra revenue now and they should just
go ahead with building the new stadium."

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