A RAWTENSTALL derelict mill is being given a new lease of life to boost the valley after worked started on an ambitious redevelopment project.

The plans to transform Ilex Mill, in Bacup Road, into 94 apartments are set to bring an end to a 20-year campaign by Rossendale Civic Trust to get the building developed.

Under the plans, a two-storey wing of the empty mill will be demolished by Manchester developers P J Livesey.

The company has already successfully converted Eagley Mills in Bolton, and properties in the Manchester area, Rufford New Hall near Ormskirk, and the company are currently working on sites in Liverpool, Essex and Norwich.

P J Livesey purchases property throughout the country and has carried out the sort of development proposed for Ilex for the past 25 years.

Ilex Mill has fallen into disrepair over the years leaving the site open for squatters and vandalism.

Kathy Fishwick, chairman of Rossendale Civic Trust, said: "We have been campaigning for many years to get the mill back into use and we feel that this proposal could be the one to achieve that goal.

"It would be great to see this old building in use once more and, hopefully, the development would also have a knock-on effect in helping boost the rest of the town centre."

The Trust has been campaigning for years to see the mill, once owned by property tycoon and former Blackpool FC chairman Owen Oyston, preserved.

Earlier this year Rossendale Council applied to have Ilex Mill de-listed with a view to ultimately demolishing the building and developing the land.

The Civic Trust campaigned to keep the mill listed which means it will be developed to its original design.

An ambitious £4.5million council scheme to develop it for a new town hall and police station failed to get approval from the National Lottery.