Liverpool give major update on £60m Anfield expansion plans

Liverpool are ready to once again press ahead with plans for a further £60million redevelopment of Anfield.

The club will this week submit a planning application to Liverpool City Council for the proposed Anfield Road Stand expansion that will take the capacity of the stadium in excess of 61,000.

Liverpool paused such a move in the spring due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and revealed construction, which was due to begin before the end of this year, would be delayed by at least 12 months.

But the Reds are now ready to restart the process that would see around 7,000 extra seats added to the Anfield Road Stand. The council are expected to make a final decision in the spring.

No timescale has been set for the start of the build, which is expected to take around 18 months to complete, with the club still waiting for more certainty surrounding the possible end of the pandemic.

As part of the application, Liverpool will also be seeking permanent permission to hold concerts and major events at the stadium, having held several in the summer of 2019.

If given the green light, it would take Fenway Sports Group's spending on infrastructure on the club beyond the £200m mark after that £110m Main Stand redevelopment in 2016 and the £50m AXA Training Centre at Kirkby, which officially opened earlier this month.

The plans to redevelop the Anfield Road Stand were originally raised last November and have been the subject of two stages of public consultation.

Over 800 responses were received from the first round of consultations, with more than 90% of those attending in favour of the proposals to bolster the stadium's capacity.

The second stage saw plans revised to keep open Anfield Road around the footprint of the new stand. The initial intention, in line with the original planning permission granted in 2014, had been to permanently close a small section of the road.

Liverpool managing director Andy Hughes said: “We have been clear from the start that the expansion would be based on three things: financial viability and sustainability, the successful navigation of the complex planning landscape and with the co-operation of local residents and the community.

“We’d like to thank everyone who has offered a contribution to that consultation process.

"We feel that we now have a proposal that has been informed by our neighbours, will support the wider economy and provide an opportunity for more of our fans to come to Anfield to support our great team.

“The last nine months without fans in our stadium has driven home our commitment to making Anfield accessible to more fans than ever before and while a high level of uncertainty remains around COVID-19, we would like to be in a position to move ahead with the proposed redevelopment as soon as the time is right which is why we’ve decided to move forward with submitting the planning application.”