Festival Garden homes plan could include school

The Liverpool Festival Gardens site is located on the banks of the River Mersey

A primary school could be built alongside housing planned for a landmark site on Liverpool's waterfront.

Plans for homes on the site of the 1984 International Garden Festival have been in the pipeline for nearly two decades, but have all failed to materialise.

Concerns have previously been raised by opposition figures that a lack of infrastructure needed to be addressed if hundreds or potentially thousands of homes were to be built on the site, known locally as the Festival Garden site.

Speaking after a new agreement was reached with two developers, Liverpool City Council housing spokesman Nick Small said plans for a school were "being looked at" as part of the scheme.

Small did not put a figure on how many homes would be built, but said 20% of them would be "affordable".

He added that when people saw the plans they would be "really excited", and said 20% of homes on the site would be "affordable".

Remediation work at the site was completed in 2023

In November 2006 plans were put forward for more than 1,000 new homes around the cleared festival hall dome area, as well as the restoration of the original ornamental gardens.

The gardens were restored in 2012, but the housing scheme did not materialise.

In 2017 Liverpool City Council took back control of the site and in 2018 appointed new developers.

Because the land was used as a waste dump before the Garden Festival, the site needed to be cleaned up. The work was completed in 2023.

The council said it was the biggest remediation project in Europe, with more than £53m invested by the council, Homes England and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

The authority went out to tender for developers again in 2024.

Small said the development would be the next piece in Liverpool's waterfront masterplan.

"We have an iconic waterfront which is globally recognised, but there's so much more we can do," he said.

Urban Splash and igloo Regeneration are the two companies chosen to work with the council.

A plan to form a joint venture company with the two firms is set to be put forward for approval in September.