EVERTON have included a new landing stage just metres from the new stadium, & a walkway over The Strand to ease fears over dealing with crowds at their new home.

Four top players in the Design team were on a fact finding tour of the Schalke stadium in Germany, & the Amsterdam Arena -, home of Ajax, Holland, yesterday. They were Vice Chairman, major shareholder, Bill Kenwright , director Paul Gregg, Kings Dock project co-ordinator, Steve Lavelle, & design team member Jim Buxton, (managing director of Ellis Williams Architects).

Jim said"It's crucial that all the ideas for this area from the different agencies, such as the city council and Merseytravel, are fully integrated. At the moment, what we're putting forward are suggestions and bringing the ferries into a new landing stage on the site is one of those. It may be that additional dredging of the Mersey will be needed to improve the depth of the river to get the ferries in closer but we believe it could be beneficial in helping bring people in from the other side of the river. The number and frequency of ferries on big event days is something else that needs to be discussed, along with car parking in the Birkenhead area. It may be that the ferry operators don't want to be involved or that after analysis we don't want crowds of people trying to catch a ferry in that area of the site.But even without a new landing stage the ferry terminal now is only a 10-minute walk away."

Everton have quickly grabbed the bull by the horns in regard to the crowd problems. Jim Buxton said "A bridge or bridges spanning The Strand could be the way of bringing people over to the site while keeping the traffic flowing, particularly at peak times, like Christmas. There also has been discussion about a new light railway transport system for Liverpool and it would be possible to provide a link through to the city centre and Lime Street from the Kings Dock, which could perhaps help bring 5,000 people an hour into the site. But if this was something that never happened or was going to happen after the stadium was due to open in 2005, then we would amend our strategy accordingly. The scheme isn't dependent on any one method of transport. It's about trying to bring all the pieces of the jigsaw together in full discussion with all involved. But if one part of it wasn't available, then we would adapt accordingly."

The club has set the ball rolling over how the issues of transport and crowd dispersal can be handled in anticipation of months of hard work that still lie ahead if its Kings Dock dream is to become a reality.

Car parking is seen as another important concern but Everton hopes to make use of spare capacity in the city and is considering building a new multi-storey car park in the Jamaica Street area to back up the 2,800 underground spaces that will be available on site.

Everton also is considering giving designated spaces on city car parks to season ticket holders and putting routes out of the city on the backs of tickets for major events to improve the traffic flow.

Everton also has redrawn the boundaries of the site, replacing the curved ends with a rectangular shape to meet environmental concerns over an important heritage site. But the stadium shape remains an oval.

Everton believes the smaller blocks, which have increased the scope for accommodation, leisure and office space, will lead to greater freedom on the site, as people are now able to wander through instead of being forced round the buildings.

The revolutionary roll-in, roll-out pitch will be surrounded by a moat when it is outside the stadium to give increased security while also providing a water feature for the apartments overlooking it.

"There will be fountains and water spouts and we believe this will help give more of a dioxide feel to the area," added Mr Buxton.

Last week, the board of site's owner, English Partnerships, considered Liverpool Vision's recommendation that Houston Securities, who submitted a £305m scheme for the 36 acres Kings Dock, including a new home for Everton, should be appointed preferred developer.

The English Heritage board has referred the matter to Liverpool Vision for a final decision, saying that some issues arising from due diligence reports on Houston's proposals need to be addressed.

But this is not seen as a major problem, given Liverpool Vision's enthusiasm for the bid and a final decision is expected to be announced in the next few weeks.(12/07/01)

Parts of this report appeared in the Daily Post, 11.07.01.