NEW apartments being built in the heart of a historic area of a town have been described as a ‘tin mess’.

Avid amateur photographer Peter Stawicki said people do not agree with the look of the new housing at the former Clock Tower Mill site off Sandy Gate at the Weaver’s Triangle in Burnley.

Sixteen apartments, which are being built by Barnfield Construction, will overlook the new Sandygate public square.

They will be offered to first-time buyers as starter homes, with a minimum 20 per cent discount on their market value, under the joint HCA scheme.

The retired Burnley General Teaching Hospital porter posted his images into several social media groups and received negative feedback.

He said: “They’re not in keeping with the surrounding area.

“It’s an eyesore and it should not have been designed in this way. This is Burnley’s heritage, it should be kept the same to preserve what it is about.

“People have called it a tin mess, a bomb shelter, all sorts of phrases have been used.

“It’s been given the wrong cladding, It should have been given a stone look or finish”.

The 40-year-long campaign to save and revive the heritage area of former Victorian Cotton Mills attracted the attention of Prince Charles who hosted the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on a Diamond Jubilee visit to the refurbished complex in May 2012.

On Facebook, a Burnley resident said: “Some may like this building and some may not, but it is situated among all the beautiful renovated canal side stone buildings is just awful.”

The original Clock Tower Mill was built in 1840 but was substantially demolished in 2004 following an arson attack.

Within a planning document, a spokesman on behalf of Barnfield Construction said: “The building is modern in appearance and creates a strong urban presence that responds to the dense nature of development around the Weaver’s Triangle.

“The design is bold and simple in form with a vertical emphasis in fenestration and a simple pallet of modern materials that do not try to recreate the stone and slate detailing of historic buildings but rather a clean modern composition with appropriate scale.”