Future of Liscard Hall site to be debated by Wirral Council

Oct 15 2008 by Lorna Hughes, Wallasey News

Liscard Hall

DEVELOPERS could be invited to give their ideas for a new building on the site of demolished Liscard Hall.

The future of the site in Central Park, left empty after the arson-hit building was bulldozed in July, will be discussed at a meeting of Wirral Council's cabinet tomorrow (Thursday).

Five options have been put forward for the future of the land:

l Leave the site as it is and make it an extra area of Central Park

l Erect a plaque describing the history of Liscard Hall and grass over the area, leaving the top of the external and basement walls exposed to show the original footprint

l Build on the site

l Refurbish the Hall's depot buildings

l Build on the site as well as refurbishing the other buildings

Council officers have recommended councillors explore either the viability of building on the site or refurbishing the remaining buildings, “in order to try and procure a beneficial use of the site of the Hall”.

The Liscard Hall Steering Group, made up of local councillors and members of the Friends of Central Park, has asked the council to assess whether there is any “realistic possibility” of a new building on the site.

But the group has urged Wirral Council to ensure any new-build ideas reflect development preferences originally proposed for the Hall - with self-sustaining community uses top of the list.

At a meeting of the Liscard and Seacombe area forum at Wallasey Town Hall on Monday, the council's head of strategic development Kevin Adderley revealed the Hall cost £50,000 to demolish - a cost covered by insurance.

He said: “When the Hall was there it was much easier to get developer interest. Now we could not simply go to the two developers who had expressed an interest because it's no longer refurbishment and it would be a rebuilding project. It would depend very much on what the interest is from the developer market.”

He said the council was still working with loss adjusters to establish the value of the Grade-II listed Hall before the fire.

Liscard councillor Leah Fraser said: “Had the council listened to us in the first place and invested in the hall the arson attack may have been avoided.

“The council are looking at the viability of building on it but whatever decision is made, the community must be involved and it must be for them.”

Seacombe councillor Adrian Jones said cabinet members faced a difficult decision but that he hoped any future development on the land would “give something to the community” rather than being purely commercial.