"PHANTOM" squatters have threatened a property developer’s seemingly cursed bid to transform a historic Victorian manor house.

Intruders have been padlocking up Owl Hall, off Plantation Road, Accrington, and posting notices claiming "squatting rights" at the site.

Police have been called out twice in the last week to unchain the doors and are investigating an alleged campaign of "harassment" against landowner Peter Broadley.

It is the latest in a long line of problems at the site, which has been subject to a bitter planning row and ravaged by fire and theft in recent years.

Two months ago Mr Broadley won a planning appeal to convert the 140-year-old manor house and outbuildings into five dwellings, after they were thrown out by Hyndburn Council amid opposition from residents, councillors and the Friends of Arden Hall, which adjoins Owl Hall.

An email received by the Observer this week from an organisation calling itself the AshtonMere Estate, claimed the hall had been reclaimed legitimately under squatting laws. It read: "There are currently four people using the site under the Adverse Possession Under Limitation Act 1980. I represent the occupants and work on behalf of the AshtonMere Estate as a means of preserving the building and also to clear up the site, back to its former glory."

But police dismissed the claims and confirmed that Owl Hall was not currently inhabited; Mr Broadley described the whole matter as a "scam".

He said: "They cannot claim adverse possession because you have got to have lived there for 12 years. Clearly nobody has lived there for 12 years, not even 12 days. The police have told me to ignore it and keep taking down the signs that they’re putting over my locks."

Sergeant Graham Brownsmith, of Accrington Police, said: "As far as I’m concerned they have no legal entitlement to the property – they’re not following any correct legal procedures in order to obtain the property. All they have done is enter his property, which is secured with fencing to keep it safe because it’s a danger for anybody entering."

He said police attempts to trace AshtonMere Estate had proven unsuccessful.

Mr Broadley said he thought they were trying to provoke him into taking out a court order and possibly delaying the redevelopment of the site, but vowed he would just ignore it.

Last October, thieves stole 5,000 roof slates worth £10,000 from the derelict hall – almost exactly a year after it was ravaged in an arson attack.

The owner was then heavily criticised after erecting a fence to keep out youths who were congregating at the hall.

He said: "It’s been a nightmare to be honest, but it’s one of those places that’s off the beaten track and always getting problems. It’s my intention to bring it back to its original state. Fortunately, the land is worth the trouble."

He added that delays in gaining planning approval could have cost him a six-figure sum, and that he would be seeking recompense from Hyndburn Council.

He said: "I feel there’s a claim against the council for taking this long to get a decision on the planning. We have lost the best part of two years being led up the garden path. It’s probably cost me £150-£200,000 to be delayed like I have.

"The downturn in the property market in that time has been substantial, so you can appreciate what those properties would have been worth. It’s more than just the costs of appeal, it's the costs of messing about."

One neighbour described the goings on at the hall as "bizarre".

He said: "Legal notices have appeared there and it has been said that it’s squatters. But the roof has burned off it and there’s nowhere really to squat."

Another added that he had phoned the police last week after seeing a man with a dog and bolt cutters standing inside the gates.

stuart.pike@menmedia.co.uk