Destination Kirkby represents the start of a new chapter for Kirkby and a new chapter for Everton Football Club, but it will by no means mark the extent of our ambition.
A new 50,000 seat stadium, a Tesco Extra store and over 50 retail outlets will create hundreds of jobs and help transform Kirkby town centre, creating a top-class and internationally renowned sporting and retail centre. In doing so, it will also help lay the foundations for a new and vibrant hub on Merseyside.
From the outset, Everton have worked hard to develop strong relationships within the local community, ensuring that the legacy of this project isn’t merely a new home for the Club. We also want to show a wider commitment to the area in which we will establish our new home.
The stadium will also be an exciting opportunity for Everton to expand our highly-renowned work in the local community, led by our stand-alone charity Everton In The Community (EITC).
Having spearheaded a number of innovative and highly-regarded initiatives in recent years, the move to Kirkby will provide the facilities and infrastructure to enable Everton to expand and enhance our work in a range of existing and new programmes.
Everton already has a full-time education officer currently working within almost half of Knowsley’s 44 schools. With the Club’s relocation to Kirkby, local schoolchildren will be able to take advantage of our award-winning Study Centre, which will be expanded and enhanced in its new home.
We also propose a new unit specifically designed to help combat truancy, while further extending initiatives such as the popular Schools Cashback Ticket scheme. This will offer schools the opportunity to raise funds for internal projects.
Knowsley children are already benefitting from our Healthy Eating Bus service, the Premier League’s flagship programme for promoting healthy eating and tackling childhood obesity. As part of Everton’s highly-respected Disability Programme, we also hope to launch a series of mental health units across the Knowsley area.
With plans also to extend football skills’ camps locally, Everton hopes that our work in the community will act as a catalyst for a new wave of initiates, bringing together schools, local groups and charities from across Knowsley and beyond.
Everton recognises that the Destination Kirkby plans have been controversial. Some local residents have expressed concern about the impact of the development with regard to traffic increases and the loss of green space. Over the past two years therefore, we have embarked on an extensive consultation process with stakeholders, securing commitments to significantly improve transport infrastructure and public services.
The new stadium itself will be the third “Public Transport Stadium” in the UK, alongside Wembley and the Emirates. We are also keen to ensure that the stadium will comply with the highest environmental standards and that any open space or playing fields lost to redevelopment will be provided elsewhere in the town.
The Destination Kirkby project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the town, bringing substantial and long-lasting benefits both to the Club and the local community. As the “People’s Club” on Merseyside, Everton sees itself as playing an active and enthusiastic role at the heart of a regenerated and re-energised Kirkby.
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