Plans to regenerate the derelict Garden Festival site in Liverpool have been given the go-ahead by the city council.
The festival hall, built for the 1984 event, is derelict
Developers Langtree have been given outline permission to build 1,308 flats and 66 houses on the site, which has been largely neglected since the 1990s.
Full planning permission was also granted for the restoration of the Japanese and Chinese Gardens.
Protesters said the site, designed for the 1984 International Garden Festival, should be used as public parkland.
The decision will now be passed to the Department of Communities and Local Government for consideration.
Haydock-based commercial developer Langtree, which bought the site near Otterspool in July 2004, has joined forces with the David McLean Group to restore the area.
It plans to knock down the derelict festival hall to make way for the new development.
It will also cultivate the site's current gardens - including the original Chinese and Japanese gardens - in partnership with the Land Restoration Trust.
When completed, the gardens will be opened to the public, the developers hope, in time for 2008.