Liverpool City Council has used recycled soil from a former landfill site to create one of the largest transformed urban green spaces in England.

Opened to the public yesterday, Southern Grasslands was created as a result of a remediation programme to lay the foundations for a potential new housing scheme at the Festival Gardens development zone, which had been used as a waste deposit facility for more than 30 years.

Over the past two years more than 400,000 cubic metres of soil and waste has been removed from the development zone. More than 95% of this material has been recycled including 100,000 cubic metres of earth that was used to create Southern Grasslands.

Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins, Liverpool City Council’s cabinet member for Neighbourhoods, said: ‘Repurposing the soil from a former landfill site to create an eco-haven is a story wildlife campaigners dream of. This is the ultimate win-win. Liverpool is gaining not just a potential new housing scheme but a year-round recreational space which will also act as a huge new carbon sink and which will benefit our unique coastal bio-diversity for decades to come.

‘And by forming a natural extension to Festival Gardens park and Otterspool Promenade for cyclists and pedestrians to use and enjoy, Southern Grasslands will be a truly special asset for us all to celebrate.’

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: ‘The Festival Gardens site holds a special place in the hearts of many Scousers, but it has been left to go to rack and ruin by decades of private sector failure. It is only through devolution, with a metro mayor working in partnership with Liverpool City Council that we can put that right.

‘Our funding is helping to transform the Festival Gardens into a public asset once more and laying the groundwork for homes to be built. Rather than a forgotten wasteland playing home to dumping, this new grassland should be home to a thriving community of new homeowners.’