A housing idea.

[Workingman]

Historic England is reporting that there are some 600 disused mills in towns and cities across the North. Many of them are in or near to the town centres and are already connected to all services and transport links. A lot of them are Grade listed so cannot be knocked down, but they could be sympathetically transformed. It is estimated that they could be converted to provided something like 120.000 homes.

I took a part-time job as a courier when I was at Uni. One of my regular drops was an old water mill in Kirkstall that had been converted to a suite of design studios. When the business there grew and moved on it was converted into 22 apartments and because it was an ex industrial site the old outbuildings were cleared to create plenty of secure off road parking and communal gardens.

Where there's a will......

[cromwell]

I think it's a brilliant idea. It would bring back to life some lovely old buildings and some town centres and would save some green fields. What's not to like?

[Workingman]

It sure is a great idea.... that's why it will not be taken up.

Not sure how Wakey has done, the last time I drove in on the 638 and round the Ings Rd area it all looked pretty modern - and characterless. In contrast when I drive round Dewsbury, Batley, Bradford I see loads of these places with only the ground floors being used. The upper floors are either empty or used as dumping grounds for goodness knows what.

I have spent a large part of my life living and working in Europe and if you go into many of their towns and cities they are always buzzing. The ground floors might be banks and furniture stores and cafes, but upstairs they are nearly always apartments.

[Kaz]

It sure is a great idea.... that's why it will not be taken up.
.

This!

[cruiser2]

There is a large disused textile mill near thencenter of town. It has been used as a amil order warehouse and then part of the locak technical college.
It has been empty for several years and fires have ben started by vandals many times. Would be ideal for apartments as there is a large yard suitable for car parking. Owners seem reluctant to spend money on re-development or improved security.
I featured on the local news this week.
A retail outlet has opened in the ground floor os another mill in another local town. Easy to find as the original cimney can be seen with the name of the original mill is shown in the brickwork. You can still see the support colums for the original line shafts.

[TheOstrich]

May be wrong, but I thought a fair number of mills have been converted into apartment flats already - thinking of Lancashire and Derbyshire in particular. There must be many more mills out there than I reckoned!

[cromwell]

Not sure how Wakey has done, the last time I drove in on the 638 and round the Ings Rd area it all looked pretty modern - and characterless. In contrast when I drive round Dewsbury, Batley, Bradford I see loads of these places with only the ground floors being used. The upper floors are either empty or used as dumping grounds for goodness knows what.

I have spent a large part of my life living and working in Europe and if you go into many of their towns and cities they are always buzzing. The ground floors might be banks and furniture stores and cafes, but upstairs they are nearly always apartments.

There is the ruin of a big mill right on the canal, next to the Hepworth gallery. Rather than turn it into housing the council wants to turn it into a leisure complex.
Link here.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-43739380

It will be nice if it works but I'm a bit dubious, not least about the "creative artistic space". Yorkshire is getting way too arty farty imo. Far better to spend a bit of money helping the traffic issues around the mill and turn it into flats to meet the demand for housing that we hear so much about. We are talking about Wakey council though who I wouldn't trust to order me a pizza.
I know some of the other Wakefield mills were knocked down, again some to provide retail parks and the like.

[JoM]

No mills around here but Stafford town centre has a couple of large empty shops which I always think should be converted for housing.
Frank, I believe you know Stafford? Up near the top of the town, the Foregate St end, there was a large Co Op department store and also M&S. The Co Op closed completely while M&S have relocated to a new shopping area at the opposite end of town (as have many of the smaller stores from that end).

There's a for sale sign outside what used to be the King Edward VI Grammar, a really beautiful old - and large - building, stating that there's planning permission in place to convert it to residential.

[Workingman]

Jo, we used to walk in down Sandon Road from RAF Stafford and have a few at the New Vic, just before Foregate St. My mate, Tim, married the lass from Sandon Road Fisheries where we used to stop on our way home for a late supper.

I just looked on google maps and that whole area is now flattened since the mid 70s. All the Victorian and Edwardian terraces are now gone for what looks like a multi store shopping estate. Sad.

I cannot place the school.

[JoM]

The school's on the other end of town Frank, on the Newport Rd. I'm not sure how it'll work with converting it as it's a beautiful listed building so would most likely be luxury apartments but isn't in the best part of town crime-wise. It's also right on a busy road, the railway lines and station are very close, there's a 24 hour Tesco next door and a nightclub opposite.

The empty retail stores could work though.

There are plans for a big regeneration of Cannock town centre too, bringing more residential buildings into the town centre and the scheme's priority is demolishing the eyesore multi-stores car park which is permanently closed due to being unsafe.