Hundreds of houses facing demolition in Liverpool could escape the bulldozer after the council made concessions to local opposition.

More than 450 houses in the Toxteth area, including Ringo Starr’s birthplace, had been earmarked for demolition under the New Heartlands neighbourhood renewal scheme.

But the demolition plans were put on hold when the council approved the £54m regeneration scheme on the condition that residents’ concerns would be heard in a further round of consultation.

A council spokesperson said: ”The executive agreed to declare it a Renewal Area, which gives access to important sources of funding and means regeneration can go ahead.

“However, a further round of consultation has been agreed, primarily with local people. This will help us to decide exactly which properties should be demolished to make way for new housing.”

A previous independent study showed that 70% of local residents favoured razing the old houses and building new ones. But a growing fear that the plan would destroy the sense of community has led some to suggest refurbishing existing houses instead.

Also facing demolition is the house recently refurbished by the programme makers of ITV’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald. The two-part programme made a case against the demolition plans by spending £24,000 refurbishing one of the houses, which is currently up for sale at £65,000.