Regen plans submitted for New Mills in Marsden
Crowther Bruce has applied to bring the long-vacant New Mills site in Marsden back into use, with a mixed-use scheme combining employment space, housing, and amenities.
The proposals include up to 20,000 sq ft of industrial workspace, 8,000 sq ft of offices, 60 apartments, and around 10,000 sq ft of cafés, restaurants, retail, and leisure space.
The wider redevelopment also covers partial demolition, a new-build element, parking, and repair works to retained mill buildings.
The four-acre site occupies a central position in Marsden, around 0.4km from the railway station, and is bounded by Warehouse Hill Road, Crowther Bruce Mill Road, Derby Terrace, and Brougham Road.
The village lies approximately 12km from Huddersfield and 37km from Manchester, within the Colne Valley between the South Pennines and the Peak District.
Vacant since 2001, the former mill has fallen into disrepair. It was previously home to Colne Valley Spinning Co, a major local employer and producer of woollen cloth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The scheme has been developed with input from Kirklees Council, alongside two public consultations held in 2024.
The design team, led by KPP Architects with Sheppard Planning and Planit, explored seven options to address constraints including heritage, highways, flood risk, and viability.
The preferred scheme retains both the east and west mill buildings, although partial demolition of the west mill is proposed to enable highways access and unlock the site. More intensive redevelopment options were tested but ruled out on viability grounds, with retained stonework instead forming a gateway public realm feature.
While the retention of buildings and opening up of the river improves the scheme overall, it has placed pressure on early-phase funding. As a result, the strategy is to secure planning permission for the wider site while delivering employment uses in the first phase, in line with funding requirements.
An application for funding has been submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
