THE Three Graces would play "second violin" to the huge £5.5bn Liverpool waters development if it is approved, Unesco inspectors have warned.

The inspectors also warned Liverpool’s World Heritage Site would be "damaged beyond repair" if the plan goes ahead.

A much-anticipated report of an inspection mission to the city’s WHS, which covers the waterfront, parts of the docks, and key areas in the city centre, was published yesterday.

As exclusively revealed by the ECHO yesterday the report also calls for developers Peel Holdings, the city council, and historic environment watchdog English Heritage to hammer out a compromise on Liverpool Waters, which aims to regenerate the city’s northern docklands.

Today Liverpool council leader Joe Anderson appealed to Peel and English Heritage to meet for crunch talks and reach a compromise.

While the report does not say what will happen to the city’s WHS status if no changes are made to the project, it is highly critical of the scheme.

The report states: "The mission concludes that if the proposed Liverpool Waters scheme as outlined during the mission would be implemented, the World Heritage property would be irreversibly damaged, due to a serious deterioration of its architectural and town-planning coherence, a serious loss of historical authenticity, and an important loss of cultural significance.

"The mission will not support the Liverpool Waters scheme in its current outline, as it will be developed at the expense of the city’s heritage."

"It strongly recommends that the three principal stakeholders, being Liverpool City Council, Peel Holdings and English Heritage, reconvene around the table and work out an adjusted scheme that includes the observations put forward in this report."

Liverpool Waters features 9,000 apartments, hundreds of offices, hotels, bars, and a cruise terminal, as well as the 55-storey Shanghai Tower and other skyscrapers.

The report warns that the city’s skyline would be damaged by tall buildings.

"The historic docklands to the north complement those to the south, putting the Three Graces centre-stage in this more or less symmetrical city profile.

"This has a historical reason also, as the Three Graces were indeed at the heart of shipping and harbour operations during the height of its glory, surrounded by dockyards and port structures.

"Shifting this profile to the north by introducing a secondary cluster of high-rise, with towers three times the height of the Three Graces, would destroy this profile, relegating the Three Graces to playing second violin, and thereby losing an important visual and historical reference to the city’s glorious past."