BELPER NEWS: Brook Cottage & The Silkolene Redevelopment

Belper has a long and notable history, but is also in this present age a thriving and expanding town, with the usual needs and requirements for its inhabitants. Sometimes those two interests conflict, leading to heated discussions and even disputes between those who want to honour and preserve Belper's historic past, and those who want to attract commerce and tourism to the town and to create modern amenities.

Recent clashes have included the proposal to allow a Night Club to take up residence in the old North Mill site; and the conversion of St. Laurence's Convent and gardens into a closely-packed estate of brick houses.

(updated 2008: The appearance of a poorly-built modern-styled Pub/Restaurant called "The Green House" on the site of the car park at the corner of Green Lane was met with dismay by most of Belper's residents. And, as it turned out, the guardians of the Lottery Fund awarded to Belper for Heritage purposes were not best pleased either! The site was once the paddock to Green Hall, built by Jedediah II in 1810. On the other hand, the housing development at St. Laurence gained many awards and has settled in nicely to its environment, having left mature trees in place and scaled back the number of houses considerably.)

Perhaps this clash of ideology is most clearly demonstrated by the discussions over the old Fuchs Lubricants/Silkolene factory site. Until a few years ago, the site - by the roundabout at the main entrance to Belper Town - was a factory hidden from view by high brick walls and gates.

The story of the manufacture of Swafega on this site can be read here.

FUCHS Lubricants at that site supplied the Silkolene range to many of the world's leading multinational pharmaceuticals and cosmetics companies.

Fuch's company literature notes the move from manual to automated production: "The company originally owned sites in Belper - previously the Silkolene Oils production facility - and Stoke on Trent - where Century Oils, acquired by Fuchs in 1991, was based. When the company decided to rationalise and enlarge its UK manufacturing capability, the decision was taken to move all production, including the petroleum jelly plant, to Stoke on Trent. The new facility is the only one in Europe to be licensed for the production of medicinal standard petroleum jelly.

The old manufacturing site in Belper had relied on a manual control system and the expertise of the resident workforce to maintain standards. However, even before the decision was taken to move to Stoke, the company had begun to examine how batch to batch repeatability could be improved. With changes in operators, both temporarily from shift to shift, and permanently as new staff joined the company, Fuchs began to explore the possibility of automating to improve production [and] the decision was taken, in 2000, to install a Siemens Process Control System (PCS)".

Accordingly, in the year 2000 Fuch's closed its Belper Silkolene oil refinery with the loss of 170 jobs.

In 2001, we learnt that the national supermarket chain, ASDA wanted to develop the site for a new store in Belper. Asda submitted a planning application to Amber Valley Borough Council to build a store that would be about 65,000 or 70,000 sq ft in total. Andy King, senior development surveyor for Asda, said: "The site is all but derelict and I think everyone would like to see the land brought back into economic use. These proposals are very much about regeneration."

David Robinson, chairman of the town centre forum, was also behind a redevelopment of the site. But to the alarm of many, there existed on the site a three-storey Grade II-listed warehouse (which would have been restored for use as offices) and an 18th-century cottage in the centre of the site which would have to be demolished.

Town historians were adamantly opposed to the loss of Brook Cottage, which is believed to be amongst the oldest buildings in Belper.  Arthur Bellaby, committee member of Belper Historical Society, said: "Brook Cottage is probably as old as the houses in Long Row and they're all listed. The two go together so they should both be preserved."

BROOK COTTAGE HISTORY

An entry in the "Derby Recorder" for 1829 says this: "Brook Cottage Seminary" Mrs Bourne begs leave respectfully to announce to her Friends and the Public, that she has opened a SCHOOL for the Board and Education of a limited number of YOUNG LADIES... Brook Cottage occupies a remarkeably healthy situation on the skirts of Belper Park and is surrounded by delightful and dry walks..."

Mr King said: "The Grade II-listed (old mill) building will be renovated and restored to its former glory. We have applied for planning permission to convert the interior to smaller retail and the existing use, which is offices. This site has been used for oil and lubricants processing and as such is heavily contaminated and while there is no current threat to public health and safety, it does make development expensive. Few types of business can afford the development costs to bring this site back into use but a supermarket can and, if we can get permission, Asda will."

Four years on, and the site is still derelict, with no redevelopment.

(updated 2008 - Asda did not, in the end, develop the site, but a large housing estate has now been built there, with an office bulding prominently fronting the roadside.

Both the Ward factory mentioned above and Brook Cottage are still standing in the midst of the new housing, without any restoration or use.)

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Green Lane

When this page was first written, the historic building was near derelict and being left open to the weather. However, since that time a private developer has made the building watertight and superficially attractive. Although work is far from complete, at the very least the church is saved for the Belper community. (See this offsite link)

TESCO COMING TO BELPER - OR NOT?

The latest and most controversial development to hit Belper for years is Tesco's proposal to put a relief road across the water meadows, with a huge supermarket and other buildings around it. The quickest way to find out about the proposals, and arguments for and against, is to visit the links provided on the LINKS page.