Plans to restore an historic hall ravaged by fire almost a decade ago and build dozens of new homes on its grounds are set for the green light.

Grade II*-listed Daresbury Hall was devastated in a blaze in 2016 and has been derelict ever since. Now Halton Council’s development management committee is set to back a project which would see it restored, with various other outbuildings either also restored or flattened to make way for new properties.

The project would see the hall itself become home to eight apartments, with six constructed in the nearby stables and outbuildings, while 31 properties would be built on the wider grounds.

The Georgian mansion on Daresbury Lane was constructed in 1759 for George Heron, a descendent of the Brooke Family who owned the Norton Priory. In the 1960s the hall was converted and extended by Cheshire County Council to provide hospital care. It was left vacant from 2010 and in 2016 a major fire resulted in substantial structural damage, with only the brick wall interior remaining.

A report to the committee said there are several outbuildings which remain, including a stables and set of agricultural buildings. But added the stables had ‘fallen victim to vandalism’ and recently itself damaged by fire. It said the remaining outbuildings were ‘intact but dilapidated’.