LEGAL action is being taken to force the owners of a demolished mill site to make the area more secure over safety fears.

Concerns have been raised about the state of the demolished Oak Mill, in Skipton Road, Colne, with a pile of bricks remaining on the site and wire fences put up to keep people out having blown down.

Bosses at Pendle Council’s building control team are to seek a court order tomorrow (Thursday) to get the owners of the site to tidy it up, having already made ‘numerous’ attempts to make the site owners secure the site.

Coun Ann Kerrigan said: “Oak Mill is an eyesore and is just waiting to be cleaned up.

“It is now a dumping ground for fly-tippers and the fences that are supposed to enclose it and make it safe appear to have been pulled down, with barbed wire trailing along the pavement causing imminent danger to anyone who gets entangled, a definite danger at night as this site is a well known illicit playground.”

The mill had been empty since Earby Light Engineering left early in 2013.

The building’s Isle of Man-based owners Gallon Ltd were fined £600 last year after they failed to comply with a planning order seeking the mill’s repair.

Gallon Ltd had acquired the property in 2006 but after the downturn in the property market had been unable to come up with a scheme for the old mill and agreed its demolition.

Neil Watson, Pendle Council’s planning manager, said: “Tomorrow we’re in court having applied to the magistrates’ court for an order for the site under Section 77 of the Building Act, known as a Section 77 notice.

“If our application is successful, this would mean that the site owners have a set period of time – 14 days – to carry out works to make the site safe and secure.

“This is likely to be securing the whole perimeter of the site, or completing the demolition of the mill by levelling the site and taking away dangerous debris.”

In the high winds last December the council took action itself to make the site safe by removing imminent dangers such as insecure fencing.