House plan for former slaughterhouse approved

Plans to turn a historic slaughterhouse into a residence have been approved despite concerns from people living nearby.

The unusual split-level, wedge-shaped stone building is on the corner of Stocks Lane and High Street in Luddenden, West Yorkshire, and dates back to the late 18th or early 19th Century.

Neighbours who objected to the plans said the position of the building's windows would lead to "a gross invasion of our privacy" and if approved they would feel compelled to sell their home.

Calderdale Council planning officers approved owner Jamie Ashton's application for the residential conversion but with the condition that two of the windows were glazed with opaque glass.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Calderdale Council heard the building is a non-designated asset of local significance.

Historically, it had been used as a butcher's shop and a slaughterhouse and showed how local industry operated.

There were concerns about overlooking, but it was an important building within Luddenden Conservation Area and the council was looking to see it brought back into a viable use, planning officers said.

The planning committee heard it had not been a butchery for a long time and a commercial use would generate more traffic than converting it into a dwelling.

Available parking space in the village was another concern raised by a number of objections to the plans.

Planning officers said the distances between buildings, and particularly the home of the neighbours who were very concerned, met requirements.

Neighbour Peter McEwan produced his own photographs taken with a drone, showing the views from the former slaughterhouse into his home.

The views were "anything but limited", he said.

"I don't believe I'm being unreasonable when I describe this application as a gross invasion of our privacy.

"Could you please help us maintain our family's privacy and the privacy of families who will live here in the future?", he told the committee.

Jane McEwan said the overlooking issue was upsetting the family so much that if it went ahead she would have to put her 200-year-old home up for sale.

Ashton said he had listened to feedback about the plans from officers, reducing plans from two to one dwelling.

"A simple objective for us is literally to secure the future of a historic building and bring it back into use and prevent further deterioration.

"We believe this proposal achieves this in a sympathetic way whilst preserving and important part of Luddenden's heritage," he said.

Councillors approved the plans after councillor Jamie Furlong had proposed the extra planning condition for opaque glass having to be used in two of the windows.

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