£3.7m. means Brierfield Mills development can go ahead

At its board meeting on Monday, the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership approved the £3.7m. fund that will enable the £30m. Northlight development of the site to go ahead.

Board members have agreed to provide the cash from the Lancashire Growth Deal to Barnfield Construction, as the project sponsor, subject to a funding agreement.

The redevelopment of the 19th Century mill has long been a priority scheme for the LEP but could not initially be funded through the Lancashire Growth Deal because of delivery timescale and the scale of funding requested – £8.9m.

Now, thanks to increased contributions from core partners Lancashire County Council, Barnfield Construction and a range of other sources, the scheme has been made viable.

Core elements of the £30m. scheme include new business workspace, an exciting leisure complex, a hotel and conferencing facility, marina and 72 apartments.

News that the development is to proceed has been widely welcomed.

Lord Tony Greaves, Deputy Leader of Pendle Council, said: “This really good deal has been put together jointly by Pendle Council and PEARL on the one hand, and the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership and Lancashire County Council on the other – in spite of the disappointing level of support from central government.

“Getting this project off the ground has involved a lot of hard work over many months and I want to thank everyone involved at both the Pendle and County Council ends.”

Azhar Ali, county councillor for Nelson South and Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Pendle said: “This is great news for Pendle and a clear sign that we can work together to secure the inward investment needed to deliver jobs and prosperity to our constituency.

“I want to thank Tim Webber for all his work in bringing forward commerical partners to deliver this scheme.

“This is going to be a catalyst for regeneration of Brierfield and the canal corridor.”

Tim Webber, managing director and chairman of Barnfield Construction, said: “I would like to express my thanks to the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership for awarding the grant which now enables us to move forward on our Northlight scheme and also thanks to Lancashire County Council and Pendle Council for their continued support and contributions which have now made the scheme viable.

“I look forward to creating an iconic development within Pendle incorporating a wide range of facilities which will give a great boost to the surrounding area and the local economy.”

And Edwin Booth, chairman of Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, said: “We listened to the business case behind this revised request for funding from Barnfield Construction and were convinced that a viable funding framework is now in place that will enable this exciting development to go forward.

“The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership exists to create the conditions for Lancashire to prosper and I’m very pleased that we can now expect to see this very ambitious development project become a reality.”