00:00 A unique recreational area called Southern Grasslands has been created in Liverpool.
00:06 It's the largest transformed urban green space opened in Liverpool during the 21st century
00:12 and one of the largest in England.
00:15 Situated just three miles south of Liverpool city centre, it was officially opened by Mayor
00:20 Steve Rotherham.
00:21 Well I've already met somebody who's travelled here from the north end of Liverpool on his
00:27 bike and he's come to have a look around and that's what we want.
00:30 We want people now to use this facility, to enjoy the facility and to take in what is
00:36 not just an actually stunning place with great views but somewhere that will help us to achieve
00:42 our net zero carbon targets and you can have a look around at how that environment works
00:48 and the biodiversity and all of the wonders that nature brings.
00:52 Over the past two years more than 400,000 cubic metres of soil and waste has been removed
00:59 from the Festival Gardens development zone, land that was used as a waste deposit facility
01:04 for more than 30 years.
01:06 Part of this has been used to create this eco-haven.
01:08 At 24 acres it's almost five times as big as Shavass Park.
01:13 We've got this fantastic new extra green space, 24 acres of extra space here that's now open
01:18 again connecting the Festival Gardens park with the other green space further down just
01:22 behind us here as it runs down to Otterspool Prom.
01:24 So we've got a really, really big area of green space, accessible space and hopefully
01:30 encouraging biodiversity and really sort of helping our natural environment.
01:34 The planting has involved the formation of new areas of woodland and meadow to create
01:39 new habitats and enrich the biodiversity in this coastal environment.
01:44 We want people to enjoy this and if you can get a development right on this doorstep then
01:51 you'll see people starting to use it for walks and cycling or taking the dog out or whatever
01:56 it might be.
01:57 But that then starts to ensure that this place becomes somewhere that's user-friendly.
02:04 You can imagine what it's going to be like on a beautiful day here.
02:06 There's loads of places for picnics and all sorts of things and really that's what we're
02:10 trying to develop on behalf of the people here alongside Liverpool City Council who
02:16 by the way have come up with all the ambitious plans here.
02:19 Situated at just a 10 minute walk to St Michael's train station, Southern Grassland also contains
02:24 a series of new public benches and picnic tables.
02:28 We declared a climate emergency in Liverpool four years ago.
02:31 Really important that we start trying to decarbonise and work towards net zero as you say.
02:35 But we've also got an ecological emergency on top of the climate emergency so we're losing
02:39 species, we're losing insects and so on.
02:42 It's really important that we have those green spaces so that we encourage that wildlife
02:47 and that those green spaces are big enough to sustain that wildlife.
02:50 The radically re-landscaped green space which now rises by more than 30 feet features more
02:57 than 5,700 new trees and shrubs as well as two kilometres of walking paths near the shoreline.
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