Plans for a 27-storey residential tower next to Liverpool Lime Street station have been scrapped as a result of inflation in construction costs.

It is understood to be the first scheme dropped because of recent inflation in building costs.

English Partnerships (EP) selected Iliad to redevelop the site, but the project has been stymied for nearly two years by opposition from tenants of shops that were due to be demolished.

Last week, the High Court threw out the tenants’ challenge.

However, EP admitted that the tower was no longer viable. Eliot Lewis-Ward, EP’s director for Merseyside, said: “In the light of delays and significant building cost inflation in this period, we have reappraised the project.

“We shall submit a planning application later this year, with revised designs and no tower.”