Liverpool council red cards Tesco/Everton FC £400m plans

  Liverpool city council’s planning committee has today decided to formally object to Everton Football Club and Tesco’s £400m Destination Kirkby scheme in the neighbouring borough of Knowsley.   The move raises questions over the future of the development, which Knowsley councillors will consider at a planning committee meeting next Monday.   The controversial scheme covers 540,000 sq ft of retail, including a 110,000 sq ft Tesco Extra store and 50 further retail units, as well as a 55,000-seat stadium.   Local residents’ groups have already objected to the development, which would mean the redevelopment of much of Kirkby town centre.   The scheme’s retail element has already been reduced from 775,000 sq ft in the original planning application, which dates from January.   Liverpool has commissioned a report from Cushman & Wakefield to evaluate the likely impact of the scheme on its own city centre, which was recently boosted by the opening of the first 1m sq ft phase of Grosvenor’s Liverpool One.   Councillors concluded the scheme does not comply with adopted and emerging planning policy and regional planning guidance and objected on grounds of scale.   The borough of Sefton, which neighbours both Knowsley and Liverpool, has yet to decide whether to object. david.quinn@rbi.co.uk