A DEVELOPER has appealed to council bosses to ‘let him get on with it’ as he bids to save a Grade Two listed landmark.

Property magnate Brendan Kiely is keen to start work on renovating Holme Hall, in Burnley Road, Cliviger, which has been empty for more than a decade.

The Lytham-based businessman is behind Berkshire Homes, which has already completed housing projects in Woodlands View, Bacup, and Kandel Place, Whitworth.

He told the Lancashire Telegraph that he had already spent £50,000 securing the site in recent weeks, ahead of beginning work on the old manor house, which dates from the 15th century.

He hopes to convert the building into 10 luxury apartments, as part of a £1.5millon investment, in a similar scheme to that given approval by former owners Hurstwood several years ago.

Mr Kiely said: “What we need to do is save this building, which is part of the British culture tradition. The more talking we are doing, the less time we are spending on getting started on this. If we want to restore this site to its former glory, we need to take action.

“We have two companies which have been taken under by this building already. I have spent £50,000 already on making it safe and putting up scaffolding, showing my commitment to the building.”

Mr Kiely hopes that if he can revive the apartments planning application promptly, then he could ‘flood’ the site with workmen and work towards making real progress on completing the conversion before September.

He said he had already encountered problems with thefts and vandalism at the remote site, off Burnley Road.

Berkshire Homes is registered in Lytham but Mr Kiely has courted controversy in East Lancashire before.

He was fined £700 by Hyndburn magistrates last year as the letting agent for a home in Spring Street, which deputy council leader Coun Claire Pritchard dubbed ‘horrible’.