AN industrial "eyesore" which was set to house hundreds of luxury new homes as part of an ambitious plan to transform Barrow's docks faces an uncertain future, the Evening Mail can reveal. 

More than a decade ago, plans were put forward to revitalise Barrow's redundant docklands into a marina village, holiday park and housing estate. The area of Salthouse Mills was set to be transformed into 250 luxury homes and the site was snapped up by property developer Amstone for £1.35m when it was put on the market in 2007. 


Salthouse Mills However, despite being earmarked in Barrow Borough Council's plan as an allocated site for future development of the town, the last nine years have seen little progress at Salthouse Mills, which has become a hotspot for anti-social behaviour and a drain on resources for Cumbria Fire and Rescue with crews being called out to deliberate fires on an increasingly regular basis. 

Discussions between Amstone and neighbouring landowners - who would need to sell up in order to provide access for construction traffic - have been unproductive. 

The Evening Mail understands the council has made several attempts to seek assurances from Amstone about the viability of the site but has had little response. Industry experts have suggested the Manchester-based firm's purchase of the site had been "highly speculative". 

<strong>WATCH BELOW: Aerial video footage of the site courtesy of Furness Engineering and Technology/Twist Technology of Ulverston </strong>

Self-made businessman John Hutchinson owns a piece of land between Rampside Road and Salthouse Mills, which he himself bought from Railtrack for just £3,000 a number of years ago. 

Mr Hutchinson said: "When Amstone first bought the land, we had just come home from living in France; they approached us three weeks after we got back and we said we would sell it. 

"We rented a house round here, waiting for them to buy the land off us. It never happened. A number of times they started negotiations then went quiet.

"They agreed to pay me £750,000 for it but I've never had a penny. My life has been a nightmare for nine years." 

The price of £750,000 for Mr Hutchinson's land has been described by one Barrow-based industry expert, who asked not to be named, as "very good value". With the prospect of resolving the access issue, and remediating the land at an estimated cost of £1.5m, Salthouse Mills could be worth between £3.5m and £4m. 

Mr Hutchinson believes it is no coincidence that Amstone has now put the 17-acre site on the market, as Barrow Borough Council is set to remove Salthouse Mills from its preferred list of housing developments. A draft local action plan has indicated the site is no longer considered viable because of a lack of progress at the site. 

Chartered surveyors Edwin Thompson, which has offices in Carlisle, Keswick and Windermere, is marketing the land at £1.6m. Any sale is subject to an overage provision - requiring the owner to give 40 per cent of any increase in value, as a result of planning permission being obtained to develop the site, to former owner Robin Walmsley, whose father bought Salthouse Mills in 1972. 

Mr Hutchinson believes the site is still suitable for housing, although industry insiders anticipate more attractive and viable pieces of land will soon become available across the Furness area. 

"It's an eyesore, it's a millstone round my neck," Mr Hutchinson, 62, added. 

"I have to go down there every single day because the kids wreck it. The last nine years have been hell. We are in limbo. I've wasted nine years of my life waiting for them to pull their finger out and pay me and all they've done is mess me about."

Another nearby landowner, who asked to remain anonymous, said Amstone had never had any "serious discussions" to resolve the access issue.  

The landowner added: "They have bought very speculatively a piece of land and it's turned out to be difficult to develop so they are now looking to extricate themselves from it."

Despite being left in limbo for nine years, Mr Hutchinson, who lives at Rampside with his wife Debbie, says he would "sell the land tomorrow" if a developer came up with the cash. 

He added: "With 250 houses on there you're looking at making about £60m but without a way in, which is through my land, it's worthless."

Amstone failed to respond to the Evening Mail's repeated attempts to set up an interview with owner Adnan Siddiqi. However, one member of staff at the Altrincham offices said the company had not been aware of any anti-social behaviour at the site and had no knowledge that Barrow Borough Council was poised to remove Salthouse Mills from its preferred list of housing allocation sites. 

KIDS DICING WITH DEATH


KIDS are dicing with death at Salthouse Mills, according to Barrow fire boss Roger Exley. 

In the last two years, firefighters have been called out to the area of Salthouse Mills 10 times to deliberate and dangerous fires which are believed to have been started by youngsters. 

Station manager Mr Exley says "something has to be done" about the site. 

"The whole site is a massive fire hazard," he said. 

"It's an insecure, derelict site where people fly tip all sorts - tyres, asbestos and gas cylinders. If there was a cylinder on fire we might have to put a cordon up - that means shutting roads, railway lines and evacuating people from their homes. 


"The risk to firefighters is huge because the land is likely to be contaminated. There is enough potential there to put someone at significant risk of being killed or seriously injured and if the site is left like as it is the chances of that happening increase. 

"Something absolutely has to be done. It is a drain on resources, an eyesore to the community and a huge environmental risk."

OWNERSHIP OF SALTHOUSE MILLS: A HISTORY

ROBIN Walmsley's father bought Salthouse Mills  in 1972 and operated the site as a thriving industrial hub. 


Robin Walmsley Robin and his brother Mark inherited the site following the death of their father and in 2007 sold it to a London firm for £1.35m. A year later, the site was snapped up by Amstone, a Manchester-based land and property developer with plans to obtain planning permission for up to 250 houses.

In 2003, the site was included in the 10-year Barrow Docklands masterplan, with ambitious proposals for the area to be a marina park, holiday village and luxury housing estate. 

Barrow Borough Council listed Salthouse Mills in the Barrow Port Area Action Plan in 2010 as a preferred site for new housing. However, in a draft copy of the latest local plan, due to be published in the second half of this year, the council reveals the once-ambitious plans for Salthouse Mills are no longer considered viable. 

Although the draft says discussions with the owner are "ongoing" its author adds: "Without provision of adequate access and unless it is proved viable at the next stage of the plan this site will not be carried forward as an allocation". 

"When I sold it, in 2007, I thought it would be all done and dusted long before now," Mr Walmsley said. 

"They should have demolished the whole site. It was a nightmare, that's why we got shut of it."