Coaching House is safe in our hands, say developers

9:03am Thursday 2nd August 2012 in News

Smithills Coaching house is in “safe hands”, according to the developers who plan to
create homes on the site.

Transforming the grade-II listed building into eight houses will prevent it from rotting or falling into disrepair and will preserve it for the future, Joe Savage, regional director of Jones Homes,
told The Bolton News .

The plans, along with proposals to build an extra 21 houses on the surrounding land, have been submitted to Bolton Council .

The Coaching House, which has been run as a restaurant for 46 years, will cease operations on August 27, and its 30 staff will be made redundant .

There has been widespread public opposition to the plans — which include demolishing part of the Coaching House — from members of the public, the Civic Trust and councillors, but Mr Savage said
they would be “sensitive” and “protect the original building”.

Speaking ahead of a public drop-in meeting at the Coaching House tomorrow, Mr Savage said the demolition would only affect an extension to the Coaching House which was added in the 1980s.

He stressed the original building would be maintained, with the addition of eight extra windows or doors. Two windows will be bricked up. Mr Savage said: “Principally we intend to return the
building back to its original form and there will be only a handful of changes so it will stay the same as it has for more than a hundred years.

“Our track record shows we have spent a lot of time restoring historic buildings and we are proud of our record.

Past projects from Jones homes, which was established more than 50 years ago and is based in Alderley Edge, include the restoration of Clevelands Preparatory School in Chorley New Road and a
housing development in Middlebrook, Horwich .

Mr Savage said: “The building is potentially under threat. If a use is not found for it then it won’t be maintained and it will decay.

“The longer it rots, the harder it will be to restore.”

He also defended the building of 21 additional homes on greenbelt land surrounding the Coaching House, which is currently covered in tarmac, saying they were returning about 50 per cent of the land
to greenery.

Mr Savage said traffic created by the 29 new houses, which are a mixture of two, three and four bedroomed homes, would be no greater than the restaurant in its heyday.

But Brian Tetlow, from Bolton’s Civic Trust, said it was greenbelt land and building 21 houses was not acceptable.

He added: “We don’t know how well this has been advertised for hotel chains or restaurant groups.

“If there was no hotel group or entrepreneur that was willing to take the Coaching House over, then rather than the building falling into disrepair we would want to see it restored.

“If we have the understanding this will be done sensitively and maintain the integrity of the building I can’t object.

“But it doesn’t alter the fact this is greenbelt and that it is inappropriate to have 21 additional houses — that is for profit and it is unacceptable.”

Ward councillor and leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Roger Hayes said in principle, if English Heritage supported the conversion of the Coaching House, he would back the plans.

He added: “My big concern is the appropriateness of the extra houses on greenbelt land and the precedent this may have for the future.

“While a lot of it is tarmac at the moment, it is better than houses, which would damage trees.

“I am also concerned about the viability of Smithills Hall if the car parking is removed.”

The plans for Smithills Coaching House are expected to be discussed at Bolton Council ’s planning committee in September.

If approved, work will start straightaway and should take around 12 months. • A drop-in meeting is taking place tomorrow between
2pm and 7pm at Smithills Coaching House.

Representatives from the Emerson Group, Jones Builders and Bolton’s Planning Department will be present to answer questions, as well as ward councillors. • A public meeting will take place after
the drop-in, at 7.30pm the Smithills Sports Centre (Pavilion Room), next to Smithills School. It will be chaired by ward councillors.

Comments(5)

macauley

says…

10:13am Thu 2 Aug 12

time will tell,talk is cheap.
macauley

BWFC71

says…

11:10am Thu 2 Aug 12

I see this as a thinly veiled threat from PE Jones/Emersons – basically saying is planning approval is not given then they will not sell on and let the property fall into disrepair!!!

Pathetic on both the old owners (including Greedy Morris) and to teh new owners.

What I say is, don’t approve the planning and let PE Jones/Emersons lose money on the property!
BWFC71

The Running Man

says…

12:37pm Thu 2 Aug 12

I do hope the planning goes through, it would be awful to see the coaching house get burned down. These arsonists are everywhere!
The Running Man

DouglasMills

says…

3:07pm Thu 2 Aug 12

[quote][p][bold]BWFC71[/bold] wrote:
I see this as a thinly veiled threat from PE Jones/Emersons – basically saying is planning approval is not given then they will not sell on and let the property fall into disrepair!!!

Pathetic on both the old owners (including Greedy Morris) and to teh new owners.

What I say is, don’t approve the planning and let PE Jones/Emersons lose money on the property![/p][/quote]Yet another well informed person who has no idea what they’re taking about….
DouglasMills

JIMMT COLLINS

says…

4:15pm Thu 2 Aug 12

d”ont worry greedy guts morris will get the planning sorted out for jones/emersons
JIMMT COLLINS

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