BURNLEY’s former county court building will be turned into eight apartments after a developer was granted planning permission.

The 106-year-old building, which has been derelict since 1986, was bought at auction for £160,000 last Ferbruary.

And although the housing project was given the go-ahead in August, its Rochdale-based owners revised their plans after they noticed problems with the building’s windows.

With renovations already under way at the Bankhouse Street site, Burnley Council planning officers have agreed to the alterations, which will see a host of single-glazed timber windows replaced with uPVC frames.

The applicant, Ms E Kasur, said in a planning statement that repairing the timber frames would have been too expensive and offered poorer insulation than the double-glazed uPVC windows.

The statement said: “The building is not listed and it is not in a conservation area.

“It is appreciated that the building is one of the oldest in Burnley, but we feel that the applicant is trying to retain the character of the building as best she can by keeping the original brickwork, feature stonework and other architectural features which has added tremendous cost to the budget.

“It is the applicant’s intention to restore this building and retain most of its original look, making it a showcase feature aesthetically to the local area.

“Some developers could have applied to demolish the building therefore we do not see altering the windows a little would be detrimental to the building or indeed the character of the area.”

The 662 sq m building will house five two-bedroom and three three-bedroom apartments.