500 pack church to protest over Everton stadium plans

Jul 27 2007 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

AROUND 500 people packed into a Kirkby church last night to express their opposition to Everton’s planned new stadium.

The public meeting was organised by the Rev Tim Stratford, the rector of Kirkby, after residents said they were dissatisfied with the public consultation carried out by Knowsley council into the scheme.

Mr Stratford said afterwards that he was pleased with the turn-out for the meeting at St Chad’s, which had helped gauge the strength of opposition to the plans.

“The tone of the debate was overwhelmingly against the development,” he said.

“People are proud of the town, and they don’t think Kirkby needs this.

“The main grounds for the objections were the poverty of the borough’s consultation, the damage to school provision, and damage to quality of life with loss of green space, anti-social behaviour, and traffic congestion.

“Also, the estimate for the number of jobs which will be created as a result of this scheme don’t really stand up.”

No formal invitations were made to either Knowsley council or Everton, although around five councillors attended last night’s event.

Mr Stratford said the next stage of the campaign would involve writing to the leader and chief executive of Knowsley council, as well as an open-air protest and march through the town.