Liverpool Festival Gardens: £10m boost could bring site 'back to life'

Mayor Joe Anderson said the site was "a much-loved waterfront location"

A £10m government funding boost could lead to a former garden festival site in Liverpool being "brought back to life", the city council has said.

The Homes England money will be used to clear Festival Gardens in Aigburth and prepare it for up to 1,500 homes.

The site, which housed Liverpool International Garden Festival in 1984, was bought by the council in 2015.

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said the "essential financial injection" would help create "an iconic destination".

He added that he wanted to keep the "much-loved waterfront location", which was a landfill site before the festival, as a "green special place".

Earlier in February, council officers revealed that tonnes of waste will have to be dealt with before houses or other buildings could be built - with the cost of clearing the site estimated at £29m, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Homes England chairman Sir Edward Lister said he was "thrilled" the site could become a home for hundreds of of families.

The first homes are expected to be available by 2022.