PLANS to demolish a pub with links to the Luddite movement to make way for new homes look set to fail.

The owner of the Shears Inn in Liversedge lodged plans in 2019 to knock it down and build a total of four family homes on the site.

And while the building itself is not listed, it has historic links after being the location of a meeting of Luddite in 1812 before they marched on a local mill to attack it.

Local heritage group Spen Valley Civic Society said it was "absolutely horrified" by the plans to demolish it, and raised strong objections. They also tried to get the pub listed by Historic England, but said they were turned down as there was nothing significant about the actual structure, just the historical events that took place there.

Now planning officers at Kirklees Council are recommending the plans by Andrew Mitchell be refused as the building is a "non-designated heritage asset" and should be converted and re-used instead of being demolished.

More than 300 representations were made over the plans, with objections focusing on the loss of a building of great historical interest, that it would change the character of the area, and highway safety.

Supporters were happy for homes to be built there in line with nearby properties, and because the pub business was failing.

In a report to members of the Council's Heavy Woollen planning sub-committee, they state: "The Shears is a non-designated heritage asset with historic significant interest. It is recorded in the West Yorkshire Historic Environment Record.

"The Shears Inn was originally constructed as a dwelling for William Howlgate, shopkeeper of Hightown and his wife Sarah, their initials are recorded on the datestone H.W.S 1773.

"William Howlgate died in 1776. By 1803 part of the building was in use as a public house.

"The history of the Luddite movement is of national interest and The Shears had an important part in the history of that movement

in Yorkshire and the events of 1812. The interior of the Inn has been much altered since that time, however the plan form of the building as a double fronted double-pile plan house (two rooms to front, two to the back) can still be read and could be restored."

The Halifax Road pub, which dates back to the late 18th century, is also listed as an asset of community value, which provides additional protection from development, and gives local interested groups extra time to raise funds to buy it themselves.

Mr Mitchell said he had been forced into seeking to redevelop the site because the pub had lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in recent years.

When the plans were submitted, he said there were not enough people drinking in the pub and he had spent lots of money trying to keep it going.

He said: “I bought it ten years ago when it was a ruin and vandalised. I’m from the area and it’s close to my heart. I spent tonnes of money but from there it’s gone downhill."

He said he had looked at keeping the building as part of the development but builders had told him that the car park was not big enough to get anything substantial built and it was better is the pub was levelled.

The meeting is on April 14.