US movie maker in authorized dispute with council over management of grade II* listed corridor

A former US film-maker has launched authorized motion towards Rochdale Borough Council to achieve management of an ancestral stately house he spent seven years attempting to revive.

Hopwood Hall in Middleton, Greater Manchester, is a grade II* listed manorial corridor owned by the council.

According to a report on the BBC, Hopwood DePree mentioned his grandfather instructed him tales of “Hopwood Castle” as a baby in Michigan, however he solely found the actual corridor existed whereas researching his household historical past in 2013.

It was derelict by the point he first visited, and he was instructed in 2015 that it could be “beyond repair” in one other 5 to 10 years.

In 2017, the council entered into an choices settlement with DePree which gave him the choice to purchase the constructing for a “nominal fee” if he might produce a commercially viable enterprise mannequin to safe the long run way forward for the corridor, alongside an in depth planning permission.

According to the BBC, DePree started work on the constructing and received planning permission in 2022 to refurbish it as an occasion and hospitality venue.

However, in November final yr, the council determined to not renew the choices settlement.

In a press release, it mentioned: “Although this settlement has been renewed quite a few instances since 2017, a viable enterprise case and funding technique has not been forthcoming, and so the council’s cupboard has made the choice to not renew the choices settlement.

“The council sees Hopwood Hall as an important a part of Middleton’s heritage and desires it to play a key position within the space’s future.

“[…] As a council, we have a duty to protect public money and important, council-owned assets like Hopwood Hall, and ensure they have a viable future which will benefit the wider community. For that reason, we have commissioned independent financial consultants to assess the business model proposed by Hopwood Productions and they concluded that these proposals would be loss making and unlikely to be able to secure future public or private funding.”

According to the BBC, DePree has spent £750,000 of his personal cash on the challenge, and has now launched authorized motion in an try to be declared the house’s authorized proprietor, arguing that he has complied together with his finish of the settlement.

Nick Wells, a companion at Ward Hadaway who represents Hopwood DePree, mentioned: “We have reviewed a few years of paperwork and emails and ultimately obtained some beforehand unseen proof by means of FOI and SAR requests, a lot of which Rochdale Borough Council tried to dam. The proof factors to the council having modified its place since coming into into the Option Agreement in 2017 and results in a powerful suspicion that the report and proposals on which Cabinet made its resolution to withdraw in October 2024 was based mostly on inaccurate data on the contents of the Option Agreement from 2017.

“We are due to this fact asking the High Court to intervene and maintain Rochdale Council to the selections that they made in 2017 moderately than the selections they’ve presupposed to have made in 2024.”

The council declined to touch upon ongoing authorized discussions.

Lottie Winson