Major plans for a new Liverpool development will "power the next stage of the city's renaissance", city council leader Liam Robinson said as his cabinet approved a project that could see 800 homes built at the city's southern waterfront.
The first image and details of the planned new multi-generational community at Festival Gardens were unveiled this month, along with news that developers Urban Splash and Igloo would be delivering it.
They are proposing to deliver 34 different styles of housing on the former 1984 International Garden Festival site that was later used as a tip site. A significant remediation project has been undertaken since the council bought the site to prepare it for housing development.
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On Tuesday, the cabinet met to approve the scheme, meaning a planning application will now be compiled, with the hope it will be submitted in around 12 months' time, reports .
At the meeting, the council's cabinet member for growth and economy, Cllr Nick Small, said: "This is a really significant milestone for Liverpool, it is a really important housing scheme. But it is more than that, it is about creating a brand new community in the south of the waterfront area, working with two award-winning developers.
"It will deliver up to 800 homes over three phases by 2034. Phase one will be 441 homes, we are proposing to do this through a sub-developer model, so we can deliver a variety of housing types at pace. The pace is crucial having waited so long for this."
He added: "Half of the site will be public realm, that is important because it is not just a housing scheme. It is about building a quality community."
Cllr Small said he hoped that if planning permission is granted, phase one of the site would be completed by spring 2028.
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However, there were some reservations about the project voiced at the meeting. Campaigner Elliot Duffel from House Everyone in Liverpool Properly commented: "This site has huge potential to bring much-needed homes to our city and I recognise the effort that has gone into building a vision that is sustainable, community-based and inclusive of a mix of housing types.
"We hear the figure of 20% affordable quoted, but affordable for who? Too often affordable means homes pegged at 80% of market rent, which in Liverpool is still far beyond what people can manage.
"We know 20% is not enough, compared to other cities that is a low target. In this case the council owns the land, this gives Liverpool the opportunity to be more ambitious. Genuinely affordable social rent should be prioritised when there are over 12,000 households on the housing waiting list.
"Festival Gardens must deliver genuinely affordable homes for social rent, otherwise we risk building new housing on one side of the city, whilst putting families into hotels on the other."
Cllr Small responded by stating that the affordable element exceeded policy requirements, adding: "We have been really, really ambitious with this, to balance getting more choice while also doing something that is affordable."
Local ward councillor Peter Norris emphasised that existing residents must remain central to the project's future development. He added: "This cannot just be about building houses, it must be about building a community that respects and serves its neighbours.
"The next stage must be managed with absolute transparency and respect for the neighbours."
Following the council cabinet's decision to progress with the scheme, council leader Liam Robinson described it as potentially a "key part of the next stage of the city's renaissance."