MERSEYSIDE’S housing renewal project was last night condemned as a costly blunder which unnecessarily bulldozed terrace streets which could have been turned into “eco-towns”.

A report by architect Mark Hines, commissioned by the pressure group, Save Britain’s Heritage, claimed that Pathfinder schemes have “ripped the heart out of local communities across the North and resulted in a shameful waste of good housing stock”.

Hundreds of terraced homes have been demolished and hundreds more left derelict because of the economic downturn.

Those schemes include the £85m NewHeartlands project, a partnership between Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral councils which is aiming to bulldoze 7,100 older properties by 2018.

The biggest clearances have been in Anfield, Everton, Picton and Kensington.

Mr Hines, in his report, drew up a number of house types which can emerge from existing terraces, from one-bed, double-height units for young professionals to four-bed family homes.

He claimed that environmentally-friendly conversions have the potential to cut carbon emissions by up to 70%.

“Huge run-down parts of our existing cities could be the real eco-towns of the future,” he said.

Mr Hines pointed as a way forward the private sector redevelopment of 230 terraced homes in Rockfield and Skerries Road, in the shadow of Anfield football stadium. Half were subsequently sold to local families living within Pathfinder demolition zones, and the remainder going to first-time buyers.

“In a part of Liverpool where no-one has moved in a generation, there is now a waiting list for such houses.

“Why was this model never adopted by Liverpool city council?”