Soil from landfill used to transform Liverpool green space

A unique recreational area called Southern Grasslands has been created in Liverpool. It is the largest transformed urban green space opened in Liverpool in the 21st century – and one of the largest in England. Situated just three miles south of Liverpool city centre, Southern Grasslands was officially opened by Mayor Steve Rotheram.

Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins, Liverpool City Council's Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: "We declared a climate emergency in Liverpool four years ago. It's really important that we start trying to decarbonise and work towards net zero. We've also got an ecological emergency on top of the climate emergency; we're losing insects, we're losing species and so on. It's really important that we have those green spaces so that we encourage that wildlife and that those green spaces are big enough to sustain wildlife."

Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, said: "We want people to use this facility, to enjoy the facility and to take in what is not just a stunning place with great views but somewhere that will help us to achieve our net zero carbon targets."

The planting has involved the formation of new areas of woodland and meadow to create new habitats and enrich the biodiversity in this unique coastal environment.

Situated just a ten minute walk to St Michael’s train station, Southern Grassland also contains a series of new public benches and picnic tables.

Over the past two years, more than 400,000 cubic metres of soil and waste has been removed from the Festival Gardens development zone, land used as a waste deposit facility for over 30 years. Part of this has been used to create this eco-haven for wildlife. At 24 acres, it is almost five times as big as Chavasse Park in Liverpool ONE.

The radically re-landscaped green space, which now rises by more than 30 feet, features more than 5,700 new trees and shrubs as well as 2km of walking paths near the shoreline.