A 200-year-old four-storey mill could be transformed into housing.

Skipton Properties is rumoured to have bought the Bridgehouse Mill site of former food processors Bront Foods.

Although no plans have been submitted by the brown-field specialists, a meeting to look at the impact on pedestrian issues in the village has been arranged at Hall Green Baptist Church on Tuesday.

As the Keighley News went to print, full details of the meeting had not been finalised.

Bradford councillor for Worth Valley Peter Hill said: "I would hate to see the listed mill building either changed or taken down. That is an important part of the Haworth skyline.

"I am saddened that so many jobs have been lost. They have been lost and that is not the fault of the district, but it is commercial reality. We will have to wait and see what any proposals are before coming to any conclusions."

He added the potential development raised a number of questions in the area, including access to the site, density of housing, school provision and drainage.

But he was concerned about rumours some housing might be added in the green belt.

Skipton Properties is also rumoured to have been surveying an area behind the mill.

The land behind the mill, which runs up to Hebden Bridge Road, is an area of green belt in the current unitary development plan, which is due to be replaced later this year. The UDP allows only for green belt development when "very special circumstances exist".

Until more details were known, Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council planning chairman Cllr Ian Shackleton did not want to comment on any proposals. But he was concerned about the impact on employment.

He said: "One concern I would have is the loss of employment in the area. They didn't employ many people from Haworth, but it was employment nevertheless."

Bridgehouse Mill was built in the 1780s and is a grade two listed building.

Bront Foods went into administration in January because of competition from cheap foreign imports.

The firm was taken over by Irish-based Hannon's Poultry Exporting Company, but the site was closed in February.