FORMER Minister for Merseyside Lord Heseltine returned to Liverpool’s Garden Festival site last night and spoke of its “wonderful” transformation.

The peer was invited to the venue to get his view on the new look gardens ahead of their public opening at the end of July.

Lord Heseltine was the driving force behind the original International Garden Festival in 1984 which aimed to revitalise tourism and Liverpool following the city’s decline.

Now, £3.7m had been ploughed into the site to help restore it.

Houses are set to be built on part of the area, accompanied with a park area and grass land.

Speaking to the Daily Post about the site’s future, Lord Heseltine said: “It’s wonderful. I’m thrilled that it’s got permanent public access facilities. I’m more delighted that the site is being developed.”

Lord Heseltine toured the grounds with Liverpool-born Sir Terry Leahy, the former chief executive of Tesco.

The pair walked through the Japanese gardens, the Moongate Walk and over a bridge toward the River Mersey.

The city’s International Garden Festival idea was borne after political unrest, economic decline and the Toxteth riots in the 1980s.

It was the largest urban reclamation programme ever witnessed in the United Kingdom and attracted £12.5m of Government funding and over 3.2m visitors to Liverpool from UK and overseas, over a period of only nine months before it closed.

Lord Heseltine added: “Back in 1979 there was a lot of local scepticism with people saying give us jobs not trees. But the festival was a success.”