New family homes on the cards for disused site

A Compulsory Purchase Order has been approved for a disused building and land in Mill Hill to convert into affordable housing.

The CPO on the former Laneside facility on Shorrock Lane has been approved by Executive Members at Blackburn with Darwen Council.

Despite intensive intervention as part of the Council’s Empty Property Strategy, Laneside was subject to regular anti-social behaviour including arson, vandalism and fly-tipping. The building has been a continual source of complaints due to its negative impact on the surrounding neighbourhood, resulting in the Council carrying out works in default as the owner did not maintain the security of the building.

The building was built around 1964 and was sold to a private purchaser in September 2000. It was converted into 19 self-contained apartments which were each sold to private purchasers.

Following some occupation of a small number of the individual apartments between October 2004 and February 2007, the building became empty again and has remained empty since. The current owner acquired the individual apartments between 2007 and 2009.

Councillor Phil Riley, Executive Member for Regeneration, said:

We have had a lot of contact with the owner of the building but the compulsory purchase action is now the only option left for the council to pursue to solve these issues.

This building has been the target of anti-social behaviour and this has of course impacted on residents in the area. We hope this action will put a stop to this and provide good, affordable housing for people and families through this redevelopment.”