COUNCILLORS have deferred a multi-million pound scheme to transform a former stately home into an 18-hole golf course and club house for the second time.

The proposed development at Woodfold estate, in Mellor, includes rebuilding the derelict Woodfold Hall and building nine homes with garages.

Ribble Valley Council's the planning and development committee, which met on Thursday night, ordered a legal document to be drawn up. The plans will be brought back to committee on October 10.

The council has deferred two planning applications for the site from property developer Reilly Developments Ltd in Chorley, which owns the site, to build nine houses with garages on the old farm site and turn the hall into a clubhouse to serve an 18-hole golf course.

The firm has withdrawn proposals to convert a stone barn at Deer House into two houses, a plan which was recommended for refusal.

Councillors were positive about the applications, but were most worried about access to the huge site, off Further Lane, and have visited it.

The hall was built by Henry Sudell, Blackburn's largest employer of hand-loom weavers.

In 1877 the hall was bought by Daniel Thwaites, founder of the brewery that still bears his name. His daughter, Elma, inherited it and she stayed until the outbreak of World War Two.

Her son, Lord Alvingham, took over the hall after her death, but in 1949 its treasures were sold off and it degenerated into a ruin.