LESSONS will be learned over a blaze which led to the demolition of a historic building in Wirral, a leading councillor promised last night.

Flames swept through Wallasey’s Grade II listed Liscard Hall early on Monday morning, just months before Wirral Council was set to choose a developer to bring it back into use.

By the end of the day the council said it had become so unsafe there was no option but to demolish the building, which has stood in Central Park since 1835.

Simon Holbrook, cabinet member for corporate services and deputy leader of Wirral Council, said: “The council has acted on the best professional advice in terms of investment in security and fire prevention measures for this building.

“If the investigation shows there are lessons to be learned from this incident we will of course take them on board.

“But in the meantime it is premature and unhelpful to be apportioning blame before there has been a proper investigation of how the fire started.

“This fire is a blow to all those who cared about the building and took the time to become involved in plans for its future.

“It is particularly a shame that this tragedy has happened when the council was so close to making a decision on its future use following the publication of a development brief.

“And it will be a huge disappointment to the Liscard Hall Consultation Group, who were consulted on the development brief before it was agreed by the council last year, as were local councillors.

But local Conservative councillor Leah Fraser said action should have been taken sooner to bring back into use the building which has stood empty for five years and suffered numerous vandal attacks.

She said: “Perhaps if the council had acted sooner this could have been avoided.”