ECONOMIC cutbacks mean the outlook is bleak for a range of Merseyside buildings deemed “at risk” by English Heritage in its latest report.

Among the areas highlighted in the heritage watchdog’s register for 2010 is Liverpool’s Duke Street conservation area.

In January, Downing Developments and Liverpool Council abandoned plans to renovate the Scandinavian Hotel, on the corner of Duke Street and Berry Street.

They wanted to restore the Georgian facade of the Scandinavian and open an 80-bedroom hotel, a suite of apartments and 22,000 sq ft of restaurants.

In its new Heritage at Risk register, English Heritage uses Duke Street as an example of a development which was particularly badly hit by the recession.

It said: “Many sites remain compromised by recent unsustainable property values which can no longer be achieved, resulting in significant conservation deficits for a range of potential development sites.

“Without a continuation of substantial heritage-based regeneration funding, or a reversal in the economic climate, it will be particularly challenging to achieve a positive outcome for a range of key sites in the near future.”

A new addition to the English Heritage list of buildings at risk is the Grade II*-listed Greenbank Drive Synagogue, a 1930s art-deco building in Sefton Park.

The synagogue is now closed as a place of worship, but the local congregation still own and are looking to sell the building.

The report says it is “in need of substantial renovation and repair works to the historic fabric”.

English Heritage also highlighted the condition of Anfield cemetery – sometimes known as Liverpool cemetery – as “generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems”.