A PROPERTY developer wanting to transform an historic Victorian manor house has finally been granted planning permission almost 18 months after applying.
Peter Broadley met with fierce opposition to his plans to rebuild Owl Hall, off Plantation Road, Accrington, which in the tine he has owned it has been hit several times by vandals and thieves as well as suffering a severe arson attack in October 2007.
As a direct result of the objections he received from nearby residents, councillors and the Friends of Arden Hall, another Accrington manor house, Mr Broadley scaled down his previous plans for 18 dwellings on the site.
Last Friday he was finally granted permission after a lengthy appeal to convert the hall into two dwellings and to erect a further three houses on the site of the current outbuildings with associated car parking and landscaping.
Mr Broadley said: "I am pleased that my application has finally been passed but I feel as though I have been led down the garden path by the council which has cost me around £150,000. I have had to pay a mortgage on the site while the council turned down my application even though it raised no concerns with highways or environmental agencies.
"When my application went before Hyndburn’s planners, two councillors managed to mislead the committee deliberately by scaremongering and I will now have to be compensated for the time I lost thanks to them."
On 29 September Mr Broadley’s application was turned down unanimously by the 11 committee members on grounds of poor access and the possibility of drainage problems.
Building on the site has been put on hold while Mr Broadley waits to hear a response to a complaint he has submitted to the council.
He added: "I don’t see any point in rushing to get this project finished especially in the current economic climate. However saying that, I am not concerned about struggling to sell the homes as I already have people on a waiting list."
