AN EYESORE MILL in a residential area is being flatttened after it had attracted vandals and thieves.

Rishton’s York Mill, most recently home of Eric Whalley’s packaging business EW Cartons, is to be demolished after the site became the target of metal thieves and vandals.

Owners EW Cartons have been granted permission to flatten the building, which was constructed in the 1900s, after the site was stripped for its metal while standing empty.

EW Cartons, which at one time employed up to 40 people at the site, moved to Altham Business Park in recent years.

Since then residents had to endure the site becoming a magnet for metal thieves, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

The plans will see the eight foot stone walls of the York Street mill building retained, but the building itself flattened. Demolition has already begun at the site.

Rishton councillor Ken Moss said residents would be relieved to see the back of the eyesore, but he is concerned that no future plans are in place.

He said: “It was most certaintly attracting the wrong sort of people to the area and not a scrap of lead remains on the place.

“People in Rishton will want to know what is happening with this site and that it is the right sort of development.”

Fellow ward councillor Harry Grayson said: “I have mixed feelings because I do know residents are worried that the site will be used for hou-sing.

“An outline planning application for a large development went in, but they wouldn’t have got planning permission.

“The only access is York Street, which is very narrow.”