Plans to improve Sandhills station were only submitted this year because of the need to ensure best value for taxpayers, it has been claimed. Earlier this week, Liverpool Council’s planning committee approved proposals to extend the queuing area for fans attending matches at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, at the second attempt.
An additional 2,000 supporters will be able to queue in an extended zone after local authority leaders gave the go-ahead for land at the station to be repurposed. Simon Crawshaw, Liverpool Council principal major projects planning officer, told the committee how without the extension to the site, Sandhills would remain overcrowded and would not be able to manage passengers' safety.
Five-year delay since stadium approval
The proposals put forward by Merseyrail represented a 150% increase in queuing area for supporters. Mr Crawshaw said it was “always envisaged” the relocation of Everton from Goodison Park to Bramley-Moore Dock “would have a significant impact on Sandhills station” and was “well understood” during the planning phase in 2021.
The ECHO has learned the need to secure best value has meant despite there being a will to improve the offer for supporters, the most recent scheme has taken five years to deliver since the go-ahead was granted for the stadium to be built.
Transport assessment and feasibility study
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Crawshaw said the works proposed by the current application are associated with the improvements to Sandhills station that were identified as necessary in the stadium’s transport assessment, and agreed as part of the original planning permission for Hill Dickinson Stadium. This was produced for Everton FC by Mott Macdonald in November 2020 following significant surveying of season ticket holders.
Merseyrail also commissioned the same firm to undertake a feasibility study of Sandhills to understand the constraints and develop options that might be available to support the movement of fans. This looked at capacity available on the trains and also the main constraints and opportunities for improvements to existing station infrastructure to support the safe movement of higher volumes of passengers.
As a result, Merseytravel and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) secured funding to deliver an additional entrance at the station to enable more people to more quickly and safely access platforms and waiting trains. A footbridge was also put in place for use on matchdays to ease queuing ahead of schedule. This had originally been earmarked to arrive in time for the European Championships in 2028.
Fan concerns and capacity limits
Last week, Everton’s Fan Advisory Board (FAB) met with city region leaders, transport providers and club representatives to discuss supporter experiences travelling to and from Hill Dickinson Stadium. The meeting was convened by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram following a public letter from the FAB raising concerns about matchday transport, particularly the experience of supporters using Sandhills.
Around 20,000 matchday rail journeys currently pass through Sandhills for Everton home fixtures, with up to 11,000 passengers travelling through the station before games and between 6,000 and 8,000 afterwards. Officials from Merseyrail said Network Rail's current signalling infrastructure limits the ability to increase services beyond the 24-28 trains per hour currently operating.
Mr Rotheram told BBC Radio Merseyside fans groups had recognised “we are currently doing everything we can do” in relation to the railway and power to change particular elements were out of local hands. The mayor said it had been a “really good” discussion with fan representatives but was at pains to stress Sandhills is “not our station.”
He added there wasn’t a “magic wand solution” to the station issues. He said: “I feel we’re moving to a better understanding…we will continue to squeeze as much capacity out of what we’ve currently got and if there’s things that we can do that will improve it even further then we will.”
In relation to the fan management zone, which was described as “not sufficient” in its current state according to LCRCA paperwork, the ECHO understands officials had planned to continually refine the scheme as partner organisations learned from supporter experiences. Sources indicated that while the will to drive change faster existed, the use of public money meant changes between designers, contractors and partners before a final scheme could be brought forward.
