FAILURE to develop a prominent Accrington building has resulted in the owner being fined in court.

Sharaz Manzur of Brookfield Way, Earby, was issued with a section 215 notice ordering him to bring the Church Street building up to standard.

But he did not to carry out the required work and was taken to court, where he was found guilty of failure to comply with a section 215 notice.

Mr Manzur has planning permission to turn the building into flats, but the council took him to court after he failed to progress in satisfying the planning conditions and issued a notice requiring him to carry out repairs.

Repairs included replacing damaged rendering, replacing windows and repairing the roof.

Mr Manzur was ordered to pay £569 pounds.

Council leader, Cllr Miles Parkinson, said: "This former Barnes Furniture store is a prominent building in Accrington and we have given the owner many chances to improve it, but when he failed to do so the council had no choice but to take legal action.

"The building is part of the bigger Cannon Corner which has recently undergone some development which has seen new business opening up in the nearby shops and so we will continue to do our utmost to get the owner to bring this property up to standard.”

Mr Manzur now faces further fines of £100 pounds per day for every day the work required remains incomplete.

The council's planning committee granted permission for the store to be converted into 15 flats and three retail units in May last year.

The three-storey building, at the junction of Cannon Street and Church Street, was used by Barnes Furniture for 30 years until it closed down in 2005.

Before that it was the Ritz cinema, which led to the area being known as Ritz Corner.