Approval given for seven-home plan at historic Calderdale house and estate

Calderdale Council planners approved the plans, submitted by Mr Paul Cockcroft, of Landown Ltd, for the Grade II listed Cliff Hill at Cliff Hill Lane, Warley, Halifax, and also granted listed building consent for the work.

On balance, the council’s conservation team say in their statement, the changes will be beneficial and describe them as “measured and sympathetic”, with areas of concern able to be controlled by planning conditions.

As well as the main house, Cliff Hill has an associated lodge, a coach house, a former barn, outbuildings and large gardens, and the proposals for the site comprise the adaptation of the existing buildings to create seven dwellings with associated parking, says the design and access statement submitted for the applicant by Langtry Langton Architects.

The work proposed involves minor adaptations within the main house and lodge to create three dwellings and conversion of the former barn, coach house and outbuildings alongside a new single storey construction within the footprint of derelict garden structures, to create four dwellings,

It is intended that the four new dwellings created from the lodge, barn and coach house will be sold as freeholds whilst the three dwellings formed from division of the main house and conversion of the outbuildings will remain as leasehold properties, says the statement.

The statement also outlines some of the history of Cliff Hall which goes back more than 400 years to the late 1500s, and at times has been lived in by what are described as three of Warley’s most notable families, the Oldfields, Farrars, and Milnes.

There were no objections submitted by the public to the plans.

The council’s Conservation Officer, Lauren Clarkson, said the changes would on balance be for the better and help protect the property.

“In summary, the proposed amendments result in the scheme being more reflective of the historic character and significance of the Cliff Hill Estate, with the historic nature of the former service buildings reflected in their proposed conversion.

“It is considered that the interventions have been designed to minimise loss of historic fabric, and any harm is less than substantial and necessary to achieve the conversion of the buildings, to ensure their continued viable use,” she said.

The conservation team, in their submitted statement, said they bellieved the changes to the main house minimised the impact on the home’s historic fabric, and planning conditions could be used to safeguard elements of the barn, lodge and coach house.

The conversion was, in the main, “measured and sympathetic”, they wrote.