Restoration plans for empty 16th Century hall

An £11m restoration plan could see an empty 16th Century hall converted into apartments with new homes built in its grounds.

Firbeck Hall near Rotherham is Grade II listed and was used as a country club, by the RAF and as a hospital. It closed in the late 1980s.

Rotherham councillors are recommended to grant the planning application by Sophia Property Developments, BBC News reported.

The SAVE Britain’s Heritage group is in favour of the work.

The building has been on the organisation’s at risk register since 2003. It has been unoccupied for more than 25 years.

The hall itself would be reconfigured to create 21 apartments with more new homes taking up the site of a modern annex and in a walled garden.

Public consultation over the plans has already taken place and the council’s planning board is to meet today.