Latest News
- KEIOC Interview Croke Park stadium director
- 1st 4 Kirkby help loosen Labour's Kirkby stranglehold
- Liverpool Echo report on stadium finance
- Daily Post believe Destination Kirkby project will be called in
- Local Media reports Everton Legal Threat [Liverpool Daily Post] [Liverpool Echo]
- New Everton stadium will kill us, say Kirkby traders
- Turbulent Priest maintains historic tradition of protecting flock
- Traditionalist Moyes has his own ideas about the stadium move...
- 2,386 Fans led astray by Club and Council during Ballot Process
- Club spin doctors silenced by Councils planning refusal on Bellefield
- Case study: Emirates Stadium transport problems (same consultants Steer Davies Gleave contracted for Everton stadium)
- Knowsley Councillors to object to stadium, Lib Dem want government to call project in
It seems Houdini is alive and well in Kirkby where he’s perfected the difficult illusion of making a massive retail development appear much larger than it actually is, you don’t believe us? Well read on………..
In December 2007 Knowsley planners submitted a draft Interim Policy Statement which included extracts from their retail based evidence report, this advised that the retail element of the proposal was for 47,000sq m gross of retail floorspace of which Tesco would occupy 15,000sq m. These above figures are confirmed by DTZ in their “Retail Evidence Base Report”
Amazingly when the Tesco planning application was submitted a month later the retail element was now calculated at 72,221 sq m gross of retail floorspace of which Tesco will occupy 15,000 sq m.
Earlier this evening all fourteen members
of Sefton Councils planning committee voted to object to Knowsley Councils
Destination Kirkby project. Unanimous cross party support for the objection saw
six Lib Dems, four Labour and four Conservative Councillors unite in their
opposition to the audacious plan by Tesco to build a retail complex that is
simply too big for Kirkby.
Faced with the prospect of unanimous objections from all neighbouring authorities, and in a bid to stave off the inevitable public enquiry, Tesco have offered to significantly reduce the retail element of destination Kirkby. Figures of between 40 and 50% have been mentioned which will clearly have a detrimental impact on the £50M cross subsidy promised to Everton Football Club.
Whilst the cynical amongst you may believe that this new level of retail has always been Tesco’s real intention, Everton remain supremely confident that Tesco will fund the shortfall and deliver the much needed planning permission, err we mean stadium.
KEIOC can exclusively reveal that the depth of opposition to “Destination Kirkby” has significantly increased with Liverpool City Council and the owners of the one billion pound Liverpool 1 development, Grosvenor Ltd, joining what KEIOC predict will eventually become unanimous local authority opposition to Tesco’s proposed development consisting of the UK’s largest Tesco Store, a massive retail park and a football stadium.
At only four weeks old Kirkby’s new political party “1st 4 Kirkby” have firmly put themselves on the political map after putting up a fantastic fight in this traditionally staunch Labour stronghold.
A further 1% swing (9 votes) would have seen their candidate elected in the Whitefield ward, and with a good first showing in two other wards, the party polled approximately 40% of the total vote in the three wards in which they chose to stand candidates.
The defiant leader of “1st 4 Kirkby”, Tony Barton, stated “this a not the end it is in fact the beginning” The candidates have been exceptionally brave in standing against the long established Labour party, the voters equally so, as many are traditional Labour voters who, having wrestled with their conscience, decided to break the habit of a lifetime and vote against Labour.
To add a little perspective to this election battle the most astonishing achievement of their spirited campaign is that “1st 4 Kirkby” who, due to limited time and resources, contested only three seats yet managed to poll more votes than the Liberal Democrats who contested all six. This now makes “1st 4 Kirkby” the official opposition party in Kirkby. We would defy anyone to undermine this magnificent achievement.
As apathetic residents begin to realise that the Labour stranglehold on Kirkby can be challenged, this public display may yet serve to polarize popular opinion against the Council promoted Tesco development plan for a massive retail park and stadium. Only the foolish would now attempt to pass this local election result off as a referendum on the Tesco development, in fact with only 48% of the vote in the “1st 4 Kirkby” contested seats the pro Tesco Labour would have lost!!!
In the early hours of Friday morning, as the Kirkby Suite echoed to the defiant cry from “1st 4 Kirkby” of “our day will come” concerned looks from Labour activists replaced earlier bravado and the more astute amongst them made enquiries about possible meetings to understand what is driving such a worryingly high percentage of Labour voters to abandon the towns traditional representatives and become politically active, a stance that was later repeated on radio Merseyside when George Howarth asked the “1st 4 Kirkby” leader “is it now not time to talk with Tesco and the Council?” to which an incredulous Tony Barton replied “what do you think we’ve been trying to do George?”
Lets hope this is the beginning of a more productive and empathetic era when the people of Kirkby, politically active and aware of the requirements and impact of regeneration on their town, will be finally listened to by councillors and developers alike.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.
