Everton's new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium recommended for approval

Everton FC's plans for a new 52,000-seater stadium has been recommended for approval.

The Premier League club hopes to host games at the Bramley-Moore Dock site as early as 2024.

A Liverpool City Council report has recommended that planning permission should be granted at a meeting on 23 February.

The government would then have the final say if the plans were given the green light by councillors.

Everton's chief executive officer Prof Denise Barrett-Baxendale said she was "pleased" with the development.

She said she would be at the council meeting to "underline how important this stadium is, not only to our football club but also to our city, our region and our country".

The council report said Everton, who have been at Goodison Park since 1892, wanted a new ground to "keep pace with Premier League competitors and prosper".

Under the plans, the 52,888-seater ground, which will cost an estimated £500m, could host up to four pop concerts a year as well as weddings, funerals, Christmas parties and conferences.

The Toffees released revised designs for the stadium in September including a waterfront terrace, a covered fan plaza and solar panels on the roof.

It followed a planning consultation with organisations like Liverpool City Council and Historic England.

Everton said Goodison Park would be converted to "high-quality, affordable housing, a multi-purpose health centre, community-led retail and leisure spaces and a youth enterprise zone".

The club was forced to abandon plans to build a new 55,000-capacity stadium at King's Dock in 2003 after they could not raise sufficient funds and a proposed relocation to a new ground in Kirkby failed in 2009, amid anger from fans.

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