Liverpool FC: Green light for Melwood training ground housing plan

Up to 160 homes will be built on the site

Plans to build up to 160 houses on Liverpool FC's training ground have been given the go-ahead.

The club will sell the Melwood site in West Derby as part of plans to redevelop its Kirkby academy site, where the first team will soon train.

The scheme was granted outline planning permission by Liverpool City Council's planning committee.

West Derby MP Stephen Twigg said he was "hugely disappointed" by the decision, and hundreds more opposed the move.

Fans have always used ladders, bins, or whatever they can get their hands on to peer over the walls at Melwood to watch training

Liverpool's first team have trained at Melwood since the 1950s.

The plans received more than 100 letters of opposition and a petition with 450 signatures.

Mr Twigg and six local councillors also objected to the plans ahead of the planning meeting.

Concerns had been raised about a potential increase in traffic in the area as well as the impact on local amenities such as schools and GP surgeries.

Former Reds boss Gerard Houllier oversaw a major redevelopment in 2001 at Melwood, which he jokingly called "the bunker", and turned it into one of the most sophisticated training grounds in the world.

However, privacy has long been an issue at Melwood, with people using ladders, chairs, bins and other objects to peer over the walls to watch training.