{"id":112740,"date":"2026-08-28T07:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/112740\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T07:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:54:10","slug":"changes-to-former-bolton-natwest-bank-ordered-to-be-torn-down-after-being-built-without-permission-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/112740\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes to former Bolton NatWest bank ordered to be torn down after being built without permission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planning enforcement has been instigated at a former NatWest building which dates back to Victorian times<\/p>\n

The roller shutters at the bank building<\/p>\n

Metal shutters and an extension built without planning permission at a former bank have been ordered to be ripped down.<\/p>\n

In the past few months three metal lean-to shutters have been installed along the side of the former NatWest building on the corner of Church Street, Farnworth, along with an extension. Bolton<\/a> council has said no planning permission was previously applied for or approved for the work and has set a deadline for demolition and removal.<\/p>\n

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The enforcement notice, published by the council, states that subject to any appeal being lodged, the unauthorised extension must be demolished and the roller shutter doors must be removed within two months of notice taking effect on September 30.<\/p>\n

A third condition of the enforcement notice states: \u201cRestore the south principal elevation of the building to its condition immediately before the unauthorised development took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis includes but is not limited to, the repair of the original elevation removed or damaged during the construction works using materials to match the original building in appearance, colour, texture and finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

That element of the work must be completed within nine months of the notice taking effect.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Image: Once the enforcement order takes effect the unauthorised structures must be removed within two months)<\/p>\n

The notice said: \u201cToday, (August 25, 2026), planning enforcement have issued an enforcement notice on the above site for \u2018without planning permission, the unauthorised extension of commercial premises and the unauthorised installation of three roller shutter doors\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NatWest branch which previously occupied the building closed in May, 2025. The property includes a basement, ground floor banking hall, and first-floor office accommodation.<\/p>\n

In April this year, plans were rejected by the council to transform a section of the building into a seven-bedroom shared house.<\/p>\n

Among the reasons given for refusal by the council was that the \u2018small size of the kitchen and dining area and the lack of external amenity space is not capable of providing future residents with high standard of amenity\u2019.<\/p>\n

The building, of Victorian origin, has long been admired by many Farnworth residents for its architectural merits.<\/p>\n

It first opened as a branch of the Bank of Bolton, designed by architect George Woodhouse in 1877.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service while photography of building was happening, Farnworth resident Mick Daley 67 said the bank \u2018had heritage value\u2019 and was one of the town\u2019s most recognisable buildings.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019ve seen the notice and I\u2019m glad something\u2019s being done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the shutters went up I wondered whether they were permitted. \u201cIt took a few days to ruin the side of the building.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Planning enforcement has been instigated at a former NatWest building which dates back to Victorian times The roller…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21386],"tags":[3211,7955],"class_list":["post-112740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-natwest","tag-bolton","tag-natwest"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117172061220476270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}