AN ambitious scheme to convert the empty office block of an old bleach works into a conference centre with bedrooms and a caretaker's flat have failed to win planners' backing.

The project would involve large-scale development of part of the former Holden Vale Works on Holcombe Road, Helmshore, which is next to open countryside.

The old office block would triple in size to accommodate the conference rooms and 24 bedrooms and the caretaker's flat would be built over an old air raid shelter.

Councillors recently gave permission for another part of the site to be turned into a small industrial estate.

But a report from Chief Planning Officer Philip Cunliffe says the former offices adjoin open countryside where development is limited to rural uses.

Allowing them to be turned into a conference centre would be against the Lancashire Structure Plan and Rossendale District Local Plan.

He points out to the planning sub-committee which meets this evening that this part of the site was specifically excluded from employment use in 1995 because it had been derelict for several years and formed part of the rural landscape stretching towards the Grane Valley.

Mr Cunliffe adds that there is already permission for the building to be converted to two homes and that a smaller extension might have a more sympathetic hearing.

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