Brierfield mill to homes conversion on schedule

According to Pendle Council, the first homes on the site named Quaker Heights should be up for sale by the end of August, 18 months after purchasing the dilapidated former mill.

The main mill building and engine house are well on the way to being converted into 12 four-bedroom townhouses and will be the first to be finished.

Fourteen two and three-storey properties will also be finished this autumn meaning 26 of the planned 55 homes will be complete.

Brian Cookson, Executive Director for Regeneration at Pendle Council, said: “Despite the economic climate, our established joint venture company with Barnfield has successfully pulled off a pearl of a housing scheme of national significance.

“From the spacious mill conversion to new family homes with stunning views of Pendle Hill, I think it will be a popular choice with people wanting to make a move.”

However, some residents at the bottom end of Brierfield are urging Pendle Council to demolish buildings on Railway Street as soon as possible to make the newly finished development at Lob Lane Mill a more desirable place to live, especially now landscaping work in Clitheroe Road is underway.

Former Brierfield town councillor Tony Starkey said: “There was an idea to relocate the three shops in Railway Street to Colne Road to give the main road a more lively feel.

“Lob Lane is a lovely flagship development for Brierfield but everybody you speak to says the same thing, the gateway approach road in Railway Street is an eyesore. It just seems crazy to me they haven’t done something about it.”

The council expects to hear by the end of August whether a bid for transitional funds, which would be used to demolish a block in Railway Street and then landscape it, has been successful or not.