Workshop scheme for Yorkshire’s first cotton mill is thrown out

PROPOSALS TO build a modern industrial unit at the front of a Grade ll-listed mill said to have helped make Keighley an affluent town have been refused by planners.

A conservation official told a Bradford Council meeting: “If it wasn’t for this mill, Keighley would not be the town it is now”.

He was speaking about Low Mill, which played a vital role in the town’s history.

He said that despite the state of the building there had been recent discussions with a heritage body that could see it restored.

Low Mill in Gresley Road dates back to 1779 and was the first cotton mill to be built in Yorkshire.

It was powered by water diverted from the River Worth through a series of sluices and is associated with Sir Richard Arkwright, the renowned industrial engineer.

Despite its significance, the building has been derelict for decades and was recently added to Save Britain’s Heritage “At Risk” register.

The water features were recently “destroyed”, with the council now investigating who was behind this heritage crime.

A planning application to build a steel workshop in front of the site was submitted to Bradford

Council by JCL Machinery in 2020. The company was unaware of the damage to the water features.

When the application first came before Bradford Council’s Keighley Area Planning Panel last year, members voted to defer a decision until more detail about the criminal investigation was made available. A report to members suggested the plans be refused, saying that while the workshop would not directly damage the mill, its proximity to the building would effectively end any chance of its future regeneration.

Members unanimously voted to refuse the plan.