Birks Mill, Walsden

Prior notification for the demolition of Birks Mill in Walsden has been refused:

Walsden is a little known canal town, next door to Todmorden and nestled in the Pennines just before Yorkshire becomes Lancashire. It is a stunning place, and Victorian mills have somehow survived here; likely as a result of the strong local pride that runs through Upper Calderdale and the Pennine peoples that have inherited the spirit of the Levellers.

This mill has been redundant for a while now but the structure does not appear to be beyond salvage, and would be ideal for residential conversion. Its a great example of an industrial building responding to the terrain of the Pennines, and is a piecemeal cluster of extensions and annexes resulting in uniquely beautiful stone geometry of chamfered corners and intersecting roofs.

The case officer, Osian Perks, must have recognised this and has refused the application. This is a very brave decision and I can not commend the Officer enough for invoking a clause in the legislation that does not allow prior notification for demolition if ‘the building has been rendered unsafe or otherwise uninhabitable by the action or inaction‘ by the applicant.

The application has clearly been considered incredibly thoroughly and on the off-chance Osian reads this, thank you for going the extra mile. I hope the owners now go back to the drawing board and consider re-use of the existing building.