Festival Park Liverpool: Partner appeal for 'garden suburb'

The mayor said the site could become a "key component" of Liverpool's "future prosperity"

Liverpool needs a development partner to help create a "cultural garden suburb which will have no equal in the UK," the city's mayor has said.

Festival Park Liverpool will be created on the 90 acre site of the former International Festival Gardens, which was bought by the council in 2015.

Mayor Joe Anderson said it could be a key to the city's "future prosperity".

The plan includes up to 2,500 homes and a "public open space scheme" on the Southern Grasslands.

The site was purchased by Liverpool City Council in 2015

An authority spokesman said the plan had received "positive feedback" during a public consultation in 2016.

It would now be "taken forward as a strategic priority" and form a "development framework to inform any future planning applications", he said.

He added the authority had taken its search for a backer to MIPIM, Europe's largest property expo, in Cannes.

Mr Anderson said a partner was needed to "help realise the vision"

Mr Anderson said the plan "presents a unique development opportunity at what is a hugely important site to Liverpool and its residents".

"We need a partner, or partners, to help realise the vision," he said.

"The site is fully owned by the city council and we see [it] as a key component of Liverpool's future prosperity, addressing the need for more quality homes and complementing what the city is achieving at the Knowledge Quarter and Liverpool Waters."

The site, which lies south of the city centre, comprises the development zone, the Southern Grasslands and the Festival Gardens, which underwent a £3.7m refurbishment in 2011.