Ambitious 26-home plans for Elland mill site submitted to planners
Ambitious plans to build and convert 26 homes and add a light industrial building at an Elland mill site have been submitted to planners.
In the process, it will help keep 75 jobs in Calderdale, according to the planning application.
Family-owned construction company DD Porter Ltd wants to change the use of former mill offices at historic West Vale Works, Stainland Road, West Vale, into three homes, refurbish six existing homes to form five – and build 18 apartments.
The company also wants to build a 1,530 square metre light industrial building with ancillary offices and storage at the site, and modify two vehicle access points, install a service yard and create parking areas
In a supporting statement, agents for the application, Robert Halstead Chartered Surveyors, say the proposals are for a mixed use development.
The new light industrial unit will allow the local manufacturing and construction company, which is currently based at Walnut Street, Halifax, to relocate and expand into purpose built premises.
As well as the converted homes, the 18 two-bedroom flats will be built in three split level two- and three-storey blocks on Stainland Road, says the statement.
It says: “The development would allow the company’s existing facility at Walnut Street to be re-purposed for the expansion of another local manufacturing business in future.
“This site is ideal for DD Porter Construction due to its position and transport links.
“The proposed site at West Vale would not only allow a bespoke, purpose-built new premises to be constructed, but will also help safeguard and add to, longer term, the jobs of the 75 local people employed by this company.
“Securing planning permission on this site will be the culmination of a near decade long site search, and is the ‘last chance saloon’ before DD Porters are forced to look beyond Calderdale for a new site.”
The applicant is experienced in both residential and commercial development, says the statement.
Using a “brownfield” site, the scheme provides a good housing mix, argues the agent.
“Apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms, which are ideally suited for younger people, couples, and those retired in this accessible urban location with plentiful amenities – i.e. a type of development not typically offered by volume housebuilders on typical housing development sites,” they say.
The site is allocated for mixed use in Calderdale’s Local Plan, argue the agents.
In keeping the business in Calderdale and boosting the housing supply, all on a brownfield site, the application is “win-win”, they state.
The planning application, number 26/00559/FUL, and supporting papers and images can be viewed on the council’s Planning Portal.