Two years to start Wakefield waterfront mill revamp

Councillor Peter Box, leader of Wakefield Council, said it wanted to "transform this historic area".

A developer has been given a two-year deadline to start work on a long-derelict mill next to the Hepworth gallery on Wakefield's waterfront.

Rutland Mills, an 1870s building complex of about 100,000 sq ft (9,290 sq m), has been derelict since 1999.

Plans include residential space, cafes, bars with small retail and business units, said the developer.

Councillor Peter Box, leader of the council, said the site's redevelopment was "the final piece of the jigsaw".

Waterfront improvements to date have included the opening of the Hepworth in 2011.

The council has agreed to sell the site next to a weir on the River Calder to property developers City & Provincial Properties PLC.

The buildings used to house a spinning mill

If development is not started in the next two years the council could buy back the site, it said.

Mr Box said: "Regeneration on this scale is never easy to deliver, especially whilst enduring a global financial crisis."

The Hepworth Wakefield gallery opened in May 2011 and is named after sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth, who was born in Wakefield in 1903.

Completion of the Rutland Mills site is conditional on planning permission.

Plans include residential space, cafes, bars with small retail and business units, said the developer.