Plans to transform Croxteth Hall and Country Park into a major tourist attraction have been revealed.
Liverpool City Council has undertaken a procurement process to find an external operator for the site. However, it has decided to instead keep the historic country house estate and instead develop a visitor and commercial strategy to grow its appeal.
A report the authority's cabinet – to be considered this week (23 March) – has recommended it to implement a major repair programme at the grade II*-listed house, as well as fund and develop a raft of income generating measures.
These include a new food, drink and hospitality provision, developing the current wedding market, operating more frequent events and improving facilities for car parking.
About 600,000 visitors are attracted to the estate each but that could double under the new proposals.
Councillor Steve Munby, cabinet member for city services, said: "On behalf of the council, the Hall's Trustees and local community and voluntary groups I would like to thank the bidders for their time and effort. They provided detailed but very different proposals to operate the Hall and Park with both bids having different strengths and weaknesses.
"It was clear they had put considerable thought into how they could satisfy the complex challenges this unique concession required. I fully appreciate they will be disappointed not to be given the opportunity to manage the estate but this new commercialisation approach to our parks has negated the need for an external operator at Croxteth.
"Croxteth Hall and Country Park is the unpolished jewel in this city's crown and it has become increasingly clear that the economic case for the council to retain the estate, invest in its offer, build a team and promote the events was the approach that made the most sense.
"Our focus now is to explore and develop the exciting opportunities to expand the attraction of numerous spaces around the estate whilst providing the amenities visitors expect when visiting a country house estate of this stature."