Cllr Fraser said: “The disgraceful actions of the yobs who caused this damage should be the final wake up call to this two-star council that things must change. Liscard Hall was part of Wallasey’s heritage, but I’m afraid this seems to matter little nowadays with the people running our council.”

Last night, Wirral Council’s head of strategic development, Kevin Adderley, said they were “all absolute-ly devastated” at the fire’s impact. The fire at the building, Grade II listed internally and externally, had been spotted by CCTV cameras.

Mr Adderley said: “We had been working with a number of private sector developers to bring the hall back into use.”

The council had intended to make a decision on a future use in September.

Last year, Wirral council published a “development brief” distributed in Europe describing a “substantial property in a prime location”, and “a rare opportunity to utilise a grand mansion set in attractive parkland surroundings”.

It said: “The site is a characteristic Victorian and Edwardian complex of buildings, reflecting the grand man-sions developed in Wirral from mid 19th to early 20th century which, with carefully proposals, could deliver a quality scheme, evocative of that era.”

The prospectus issued by the coun-cil said: “In terms of uses such as hotel, restaurant or residential apart-ments, the historic fabric could in-spire a ‘gracious living’ approach to significant benefit.”

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