Sign up to FREE email alerts from Liverpool Echo - Weekly Politics Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Town Hall chiefs today launched a month-long consultation on Anfield ’s £260m regeneration.

Last week council bosses responded to delays by insisting plans wouldn’t be "held to ransom" by the owners of four homes standing in the way of the scheme.

And today the latest step was given the green light by the cabinet, opening the door for residents and business owners to air their opinions on the specifics of the planned development.

The Anfield Spatial Regeneration Framework, which spells out how the area will be improved and up to 700 jobs could be created, will then be re-submitted for final approval in April once local opinions have been taken into account.

Cabinet member for housing Ann O’Byrne said this would be seen as another step toward turning around north Liverpool’s fortunes.

She said: “The whole of Anfield suffered because of the fall of housing market renewal and the dramatic loss of money that left the whole area in a state of limbo.

“But when I talk to residents now they’re absolutely delighted they can see the future is now looking brighter and they’re happy with the progress we are making.”

The council said 80% of 1,700 residents surveyed approved of the new scheme for Anfield it had proposed alongside Your Housing Group and Liverpool Football Club among others.

Within the scheme the club still aims to finalise its long-standing plans for expanding Anfield stadium by 2018 – the same year the council said it hoped the wider Anfield development would be complete.

The Spatial Regeneration Framework that was today approved means planning applications and ideas for other improvements can now progress, with a view to their inclusion in the plans, the council said.

If two private owners of four homes in the area who are continuing to resist the development refuse to sell their homes, Joe Anderson has said compulsory purchase orders will be used to make sure the plans go ahead.

Sixty-seven houses in Lothair Road and Rockfield Road have already been bought up by either the club, the council or housing association Your Housing, but the mayor said if reasonable terms couldn’t be agreed then deals would be forced through.

However, this process could itself be delayed if objections to the CPOs were received, or if Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who has regularly clashed with the mayor in the past, called in the decision over questions of whether or not the purchase orders were in the public interest.

Negotiations with owners over sales are expected to continue until the end of February, but if no agreement has been reached by then it is understood Compulsory Purchase Orders will be drawn up.