The new ground, costing £180m, will spearhead a new-look Anfield, with a futuristic Plaza on the site of the existing ground, coupled with a hotel, home improvements and a safer environment.
Critics argue that one of Britain's great Victorian Parks will be ruined for ever by the arrival of a huge modern stadium and all the ancillaries that go with it - car parks, transport problems, congestion.
They also argue that politicians have vowed never to sell off parkland areas, the so-called 'Crown Jewels'.
The counter argument is that the land earmarked for the stadium is already a concrete area used for match day parking.
The city council's executive board has agreed to the project, though it now faces scrutiny at a council Select Committee later this week.
The critical issue is whether the New Anfield Vision can be delivered without the inclusion of Liverpool FC.
The football ground is, both historically and currently, a critical part of the community.
The next few weeks will determine whether the Anfield dream will be a reality.
larryneild@dailypost.co.uk
Once-in-a-lifetime chance for community
YES SAYS Cllr Flo Clucas, executive member for economic development and a member of the Objective 1 committee
PART of Stanley Park has been leased to Liverpool FC so that the regeneration plans for Anfield and Breckfield can go ahead.
Unless there is a new stadium the public funding from Objective 1 and NWDA would be lost to this part of North Liverpool which, as one of the most deprived areas in the country, desperately needs this injection of funding.
If the stadium does not go ahead, the potential for all that employment, new business and injection of confidence in Anfield and Breckfield is likely to go forever.
And it is important to to point out that there will be no net loss of green space at all. Much of what is going to be built on is currently a tarmaced car park.
We consulted 19,000 people on this scheme and a huge majority wanted the club to stay here. It was an enormous consultation.
The scheme enables us to do what many of the people in the local area want us to do.
We talk to the people most directly affected by these changes and it is worth noting that of those that made formal objections, some were from Middlesex, Formby and Crosby. Of course, these people have a right to object but I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of local people see this scheme as not just providing a new home for Liverpool FC but as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of regenerating their community.
The majority of people who live in the area recognise how vital it is to ensuring young people have a future.
It will transform Anfield and Breckfield beyond recognition by creating extensive new jobs.
There will be a hotel complex, the park will have its third lake restored, the Gladstone Conservatory will be restored.
It will create jobs in heritage, culture and business and make a real difference to people's lives.
If you look at the area there are a number of things that strike you. There is significant expansion but there is an inability of local people to access quality employment.
There is the new North Liverpool Academy, but we need to be able to give those young people very real opportunities that will allow them to stay in the local area.
This is not a decision that we would take lightly. But we must remember that the park is not wholly going out of council control.
The lease is to the joint venture company that will be 50% city council and 50% LFC.
For five years this scheme has been developed with the Anfield Breckfield Partnership Forum, which has focused on gaining the best regeneration plan for the area.
Without the stadium there will be no public sector cash to carry out those plans, which will provide a much-need boost for the area.
The right plan, but in the wrong place
NO SAYS Steve Radford, Leader of Liberal Group, Liverpool Council
EVERYONE in the Save Stanley Park campaign recognises the benefit of a new world-class international stadium for Liverpool Football Club.
We want the proposal to be commercially viable, but it must be in the right location with excellent motorway and rail connections. To be commercially viable, thousands more football fans will need to be able to reach the new stadium without becoming trapped in heavy congestion.
The current plans will add 15,000 extra cars to the most congested and densely populated part of Liverpool. Congested traffic will add to dangerous levels of air pollution.
We believe the city council has failed miserably to develop alternative, and preferable, sites at Speke, or along the East Lancs corridor.
The promised park and ride/park and walk" scheme is a delusion - already one of the sites, (Craven Park) has become a housing estate.
The proponents claim the people of Anfield have voted for this scheme.
The council voted to hold a referendum in October 2000. Having done so, senior officers and councillors, terrified at the prospect, set about a phoney consultation whereby residents' opinions were claimed to have been reported, only after the reading of a wish list of promises, set to bias the outcome.
Residents never saw the answers submitted to the council on their behalf, they were not allowed to view the form or sign it proving it to be a correct record.
The council say they consulted 19,000 homes: not true. They only did 4,102 in Kirkdale, Walton, Breckfield, Tuebrook, Kensington, and Anfield. All the other areas have their own local park, and as such will not be affected by building on Stanley Park.
We challenge the council to put the issue to a local referendum.
During the public inquiry against the demolitions the council told the inspector housing renewal was NOT linked to LFC building on Stanley Park, yet every week Lib Dem press releases claim the regeneration of Anfield IS dependent on LFC's proposals.
The present stadium is 27 metres high, the new stadium will be 78.9 metres high, an increase of 225%.
A yes vote will give the council and large financial interests the green light to encroach on local parks.
Walton Hall, Croxteth, Newsham, Sefton, Calderstones and Princes Park, and Otterspool will be under threat.
We are asking you to vote NO, to save all our parks and ensure a new international stadium is built somewhere else with excellent transport links.
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