The government’s national heritage body has refused to support Gary Neville’s Jackson’s Row project for a second time.

Historic England has written to the council’s planning department - which is currently considering the latest application for the site - to say that while revised plans have less of an impact on surrounding listed buildings than previously, it still cannot back them.

Gary Neville’s development vehicle has already ripped up one set of proposals for the St Michael’s project after Historic England objected to initial designs almost a year ago.

A new architect, Stephen Hodder, was then appointed to draw up a new scheme.

Revised designs included a change of heart on the demolition of a range of buildings - such as the former Bootle Street police station - and only one skyscraper proposed instead of two.

Historic England had said in December the resulting impact to nearby heritage treasures, such as the town hall, was now ‘less than substantial’ as a result, a view the developers took as a positive sign.

But the body’s formal submission to the council reveals it still does not support the latest designs.

“Historic England has concerns regarding the application on heritage grounds,” writes the body’s north west director Catharine Dewar in a letter dated last Thursday.

“We are unable to support the application on heritage grounds due to the cumulative harm that would be caused to highly graded listed buildings.”

As a result, she says, the council’s planning department will have to be satisfied that the public benefit will ‘convincingly outweigh’ that harm ‘before coming to a decision’.

She adds: “It requires clear and convincing justification to overcome the great weight attached to preserving heritage assets.”

Mr Hodder said that while Historic England was not supporting the designs, it was no longer officially objecting to them, adding that the latest letter was in fact a 'step forward'.

He said the body was a lot more positive about many aspects of the scheme, adding: "It will now be up the council to decide whether the regeneration benefits outweigh the harm."

Last year’s criticisms from the body - which were harsher than its latest verdict - had delivered a hammer-blow to the project that saw it effectively started from scratch.

The designs were radically altered, but still include a skyscraper that will harm the setting of Manchester’s listed town hall, according to Historic England, particularly views of it from the junction of Princess Street and St Peter’s Square.

“The Jackson’s Row tower would be visible in this view intruding into the sky space between the two buildings and above the roof of the town hall extension,” the letter adds.

“The currently clear sky allows easy appreciation of the architectural qualities of the two buildings and the contrast between the two that illustrates how fashions for civic buildings changed over time.”

Historic England says the tower is ‘taller and closer’ to the town hall than any other existing block, adding that while in planning policy terms that harm is now ‘less than substantial’, ‘it is still harm which requires clear and convincing justification’.

The Jackson’s Row development had been expected to go before the council’s planning committee within the next two or three months.

Unless it is withdrawn a second time, councillors will now have to decide whether the public benefit - likely to be measured in terms of jobs and economic impact, as well as the creation of a new rooftop garden above Bootle Street - outweighs the harm to nearby listed buildings.