AN unpopular chimney should be demolished as part of ambitious plans to convert a mill complex in Nelson, according to a leading councillor.

Planning chiefs at Pendle Council have drawn up a masterplan for the Riverside Mill in the Bradley area of town, with hopes that the former industrial hub can become a high-quality residential area.

But ward councillor and Labour group leader Mohammed Iqbal is adamant that the one thing residents in Bradley want to see, above everything else with the mill, is the removal of the towering chimney which dominates the area.

Coun Iqbal said: "On our brief we have got children playing in the background - and then the chimney covered in phone masts overhead.

"There is no way anyone would buy a house next to such a big chimney overhead.

"I know people from outside of Nelson see this chimney as a positive feature but I would like them to come and buy the first house underneath it if they are built. The people of Bradley ward certainly don't want it."

The mill is in private hands and still has a few smaller businesses located within its boundaries, which the authority hopes can be persuaded to relocate.

Following assistance from housing regeneration agency Elevate, the council has already purchased three properties on Elizabeth Street as part of the Bradley masterplan process.

Housing regeneration manager Julie Whittaker says in a report to the council's Nelson committee: " It is expected that that Riverside Mills transformation will combine high-quality new residential property with new areas of public open space and a new waterside environment, linking into other parts of Bradley and the surrounding town centre."

Coun Iqbal also questioned the progress which could be made with the masterplan, adding: "For the past 15 years no-one has wanted to develop that site."

But Coun Nadeem Ahmed, of the council's ruling Liberal Democrat party, defended the masterplan, saying that it was 'aspirational'.

"This is a major development within part of the Bradley masterplan and it is important that we do have a vision of the future," said Coun Ahmed.

He warned that if planning briefs were not devised for such sites in Nelson and beyond then key sites could lie empty "for years and years".