Residential conversion approved for Blackburn mill

Plans have been approved to build up to 500 homes and 130,000 sq ft of employment space on the former Sappi Paper Mill site in Feniscowles, near Blackburn.

HOW Planning secured outline planning approval on behalf of developer Aeternum Capital for the residential-led mixed-use development.

The 67-acre site on Preston Old Road has been vacant for several years.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has acknowledged the site in the emerging Site Allocations and Development Management Policies document, and allocated the site as providing residential and employment uses on site.

The development would be known as Stanworth Waters.

Richard Barton, partner at HOW Planning, said: “The vision for this scheme is to deliver a sustainable development on what is a vacant and under-used brownfield site. Approval of the application ensures our clients can help realise its full potential, by bringing it back into beneficial use through new homes and investment to the area.”