New move for flats and pool at old church
JONATHAN GRIEVE
AMENDED plans to convert a grade-II listed church into ‘high quality’ apartments and a swimming pool have been unveiled.
Proposals have been submitted to Hyndburn Council asking planners to consider changes to a previous application to convert the old Cannon Street Baptist Church in Accrington.
Plans first lodged in 2016 to facilitate conversion of the church into one four-bed bed apartment, nine two-bed apartments, one one-bed apartment, and nine bedsits with swimming pool and storage space to the basement were approved.
The church dates back to 1872 but was closed as a place of worship in 2006 and now is classed as “partly derelict”.
Developers now want to increase the parking area to make the apartments more attractive to potential buyers.
And a raft of changes have been submitted in a bid to increase the proposed number of spaces from 10 to 17.
A spokesman for the developers said: “The last use of the site was a church which ended in 2006 and has been vacant since.
“This long period of vacancy has caused the site to fall into disrepair, with some external windows being boarded up due to vandalism and the site was overgrown for some time.
“The development is a high-quality scheme including a swimming pool and will be costly due to the works required to bring the listed building, which is in disrepair, into use.
“The applicant considers that by extending the car parking area to the east and providing additional spaces it will make the apartments more attractive for sale or rent to the targeted professional market. This will ensure the successful lease or sale of the properties and ensure the listed building is brought into use.
“The public benefits of the scheme considerably outweigh any harm that the council may consider there is to the streetscene or the listed building and the proposal should be approved without delay.”