We all know Liverpool Football Club and Owner John W. Henry is desperate to redevelop their famous Anfield home, but it seems like some flying critters could put a stop to all that before it’s even begun.
Plans for the expansion of Anfield are at an advance stage, with plans to increase the capacity to 60,000 expected to be lodged with Liverpool City Council shortly. However sightings of bats, that’s right you read that correctly, flying inside the stadium and calling the rafters high above the famous turf home, could see expansion plans take a nosedive.
Why? Because bats are a protected species and ‘must not be “adversely affected” by building work and studies will determine what can be done to accommodate bats and building work’.
A spokesman for the Bats conversation Trust had this to say.
"[Liverpool] must not harm bats’ conservation status. If it’s believed bats are or are likely to be present at Anfield, an ecologist will have to establish how bats use the site and find out which species are present before undertaking building works. And any works will have to take any bats present into account to ensure they are not adversely affected.”
(MORE: Is Liverpool FC’s planned expansion of Anfield the best option?)
So, after years of painstaking planning behind the scenes trying to get locals on board with the plans to expand Anfield rather than move to a new home in Stanley Park, could Liverpool’s plans for expansion really be hit by bat problems?
Whatever happens, it seems as though this project is destined to be drawn out and provide as much controversy as possible. Surely there has to be a way to relocate Anfield’s population of bats, whilst not harming them during an expansion?
Hang on a minute, bats... Vampires... Luis Suarez biting people at Anfield...
It’s all making sense now.