“It’s a factual study and a massive piece of work, about 200mm thick, with a range of professionals such as archaeologists, recording what is there at the moment.

“When you put in a planning application you are supposed to improve the current environment.

“In 20 years when you come back and compare it to what is there then, it will show how the area has improved.”

He said Peel are about to submit planning applications for more primarily residential developments, but will also include offices and shops.

Mr Ashworth said: “The next phase will put some shops in there, maybe a foodstore about 10-15,000 sq ft, hopefully for the basis of a community.

“The area needs more population around there.

“We have got five buildings on that site and the aim is to build a community with the corn warehouses as the hub.”

The Wirral Waters scheme as it was first described by Peel would create 27,000 full-time jobs and see more than 500 acres of brownfield, underused dockland redeveloped.

As well as creating a waterfront to rival Shanghai the initial plans for Wirral Waters also included a major retail shopping centre at Bidston Moss, and more than 11m square feet to be developed to provide 15,000 new homes.

This ties in with last week’s announcement that the Mersey Heartlands had been made a “growth point” by the Government allowing significant numbers of new homes to be built in parts of Birkenhead and Liverpool.

The Peel plans are a key element in the council’s aims to regenerate Wirral’s economy through extra housing and business development.

liammurphy