Last year Grant Shapps, the housing minister, asked Liverpool City Council to
halt the planned destruction of the properties while alternative schemes are
considered.

Richard Kemp, the leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on the council,
said that 117 of the homes will be renovated instead of being destroyed.

Mr Kemp, who is chairman of Plus Dane, the housing association which owns most
of the Welsh Street homes, said: “We will be bringing some of the Welsh
Streets properties back into use, and one of those is number 9 Madryn
Street.

“These will be homes people want to live in and, although it wasn’t the
original plan, times have changed.

“This is the right thing to do with the circumstances of the housing
market at the moment.

“We are hoping that the National Trust will take on the property and run
it as a tourist attraction.”

The National Trust runs the Liverpool childhood homes of John Lennon – “Mendips”
in Menlove Avenue – and Sir Paul McCartney – 20 Forthlin Road – as popular
attractions for Beatles fans.

But a spokesman for the Trust said: “Unlike John Lennon and Sir Paul
McCartney, Ringo resided at Madryn Street for a very brief period, early on
in his life.

“Consequently the significance of the house in terms of musical influence or
development was insignificant compared to Mendips and 20 Forthlin Road.

“History tells us that the Beatles lived in more than a dozen houses during
their collective childhoods and it would not be realistic for the Trust to
try and acquire all of these buildings.”

He added that no funds are in place to buy 9 Madryn Street and it is not
certain that the house would generate enough money from visitors to cover
all the costs of its future upkeep.

In 2010 English Heritage refused to grant Starr’s birthplace listed building
status on the grounds that the drummer only lived there for a very short
time, it had no associations with the Beatles’ success and was “not
architecturally or historically significant enough”.

A Liverpool City Council spokesman said: “We have not made any decision over
the future of Ringo Starr’s former home on Madryn Street.

“It is well known that we have been considering for some time the best way
forward for the Welsh Streets, taking into account the housing needs of the
area and the demand for specific types of properties.”