A hotly contested football World Cup fan park has been given the go-ahead at a South Liverpool cricket club.
Despite more than a dozen people turning up at the Cunard Building to oppose the plans, Sefton Park Cricket Club has been awarded a premises licence to stage two events in the Autumn and Winter in a bid to raise vital funds. Among its proposals are an Oktoberfest-style German beer festival beginning later this month.
With the granting of the licence by Liverpool Council, the cricket club will now move forward with its plans to screen matches from the football World Cup to be held in November and December on the Lower Cricket Playing Field towards Mossley Hill Drive. The club’s bid, heard by members of Liverpool Council’s licensing and gambling sub-committee last week, was scaled down after initial proposals sought to operate until the New Year.
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The club will be able to stage both events from 10am to 10pm daily with a cut off of 9.45pm for the sale of alcohol. Stephen Dutton, Sefton Park CC safeguarding officer, told a packed Queen Mary room at the Cunard Building last week that the club had “no money” with a progressive decline over the years but hoped staging these events would help turn its finances around.
The licence has been awarded to Chysalis Safety Solutions on behalf of the club. Edward Grant, speaking on behalf of the business, said the club hoped to attract around 7,000 people over the course of the Oktoberfest event in seven stages but would realistically expect around 5,000.
Mr Grant, who fielded questions throughout, said a further 3,000 could be held at any one time for the screenings of football matches. A number of concerns were raised by residents including worries about underage drinking, vomiting, defecating and drug use around the park.
The club’s finances were also called into question by one objector who wasn’t bowled over by the plans and said if SPCC had no money as it claimed, the events may not prove to be a one-off and “we could find ourselves back here again.”
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