A leading East Lancashire wedding and events venue is set to get a new ceremony room.

The Sparth House in Clayton-le-Moors want to build single-storey timber framed building to hold 120 people in the rear garden.

It will replace the existing wedding room and afford views over the garden during any ceremonies.

The hotel's boss Olivia Gray has asked Hyndburn Council for planning permission for the additions.

Lancashire Telegraph: The proposed new ceremony room at Sparth House

Documents submitted to borough planners with her application state: "Sparth House is a thriving business providing bespoke weddings and events and has been operating for 26 years, with the current owners in charge for the last nine years.

"The proposed scheme will allow for the extended provision of this service and assist in expanding and increasing the quality of the venue offerings, as the current ceremony room provides a limited capacity and no external aspect.

"Since reopening from the pandemic, the business has changed from being a hotel with restaurant to a purely wedding/hospitality venue with 16 stay-over rooms for guests attending events/weddings.

"This shift in emphasis of the business has increased the turnover to an estimated £780,000 in 2022.

"The new-build ceremony room will replace the existing facility located with the house with a more bespoke outdoor setting to enhance the event/weddings offering and help drive the business forward.

"The property is located to the east of Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, in substantial grounds and located two miles to the north of Accrington.

"Sparth House is a Grade II Listed Building, constructed in the late 18th Century and has been more recently converted to a hotel and hospitality use.

"The house is a three-storey double pile of three bays with an attached Georgian wing to the south and attached barn to the north.

"Later attached outbuildings to the south were removed in the mid-20th Century, whilst to the rear a small hipped roof single-storey extension has been added in the early 20th Century, including conversion of the barn into two-storey accommodation and addition of a conservatory.

"The proposal to build a new ceremony room to replace the outdated existing within the house is aimed at maintaining the successful business created by the current owners.

"The building is modest in scale and size and located to the rear garden with no visual impact to the setting of Sparth House."