FRESH plans are in the pipeline to turn a grade II listed former Failsworth social club into flats with a gym for residents.

A change-of-use planning application has been submitted to convert the former Lancaster Sports and Social Club on Broadway into nine apartments.

The site was built 251 years ago in 1770 by Captain Josiah Birch and was originally located in a park in around 21 acres of land and included a mill, cottages and a lake.

In more recent times, it was listed as a grade II building in 1975 and used to be the clubhouse for the Avro Club and housed changing facilities, a bar, function rooms and staff accommodation.

The site is currently unoccupied and under the protection of Bellway Homes, the housebuilder of the new neighbouring residential site Lancaster Gardens, strip out works, including the re-roofing of the main roof, have been carried out ready for the proposed development.

The basement has been stripped and would be used for storage space, a cycle store, plant room space and a gym for residents if the application is given the go-ahead.

Four apartments will be housed on the ground floor, made up of two two-bed homes and two one-bed flats under the proposals.

Three two-bed apartments will be situated on the first floor and two one-bed apartments will be fitted on the second floor if the council give the plans the green light.

A planning statement, prepared for applicant The Lancaster Club Limited, states: "The proposed new development will comprise of a high-quality residential scheme that includes the full refurbishment and conversion of the listed building.

"The conversion of the building is independent to the redevelopment of the main residential scheme surrounding the site, currently under construction.

"The removal of the modern additions, already carried out, allows the building to be viewed as it was originally designed and emphasises the symmetry of the design."

The developer added that elevation changes to the building will reinstate views of the building when it was known as Failsworth Lodge around 1909.

Failsworth Lodge circa 1909

Failsworth Lodge circa 1909

A heritage statement with the plans also states the development "involved a degree of harm" due to the "proposed subdivision of former rooms to the ground and first floors".

But the developer says "this harm is minimised by a series of proposed measures" to ensure the "principal spaces will still be appreciable".

It has also been highlighted that planning and listed building applications to turn the site into apartments were previously granted in 2016.