A phenomenal plan for a 60-foot-high house at Barrow Bridge Chimney is back on the cards more than a decade after it was approved.

Bolton Council approved planning permission for the site of the 280-foot-high, Grade-II listed chimney around 12 and a half years ago.

The approval of the council was on the condition the work was started by 2014 and, to the outside observer, it seems as though this is not the case.

However an application to the council last week said the work was started by 2014 and the planning permission was in place to this day as a result.

This work was stopped in its early stages due to cost considerations.

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A report said: "The development commenced within the timeframe of condition one of the approval.

"The LPA [Local Planning Authority] has no counter-evidence to contradict the applicant's evidence."

A spokesperson for RT Design, the Bolton-based agent acting on the behalf of the anonymous applicant, said it is not certain the client wants to progress with the plan, which includes an entrance at the ground level with an elevator to the first floor level some 60 feet in the air.

There would be multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms and a living area all within a 360-degree, glass structure.

However if the client wants to progress with the plan there is no need for any more planning permission to do so.

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The spokesperson for RT Design said: "Planners said it would not be valid if all the conditions were not met. 

"We proved all of the conditions were met so we are able to proceed without any more planning permission."

Built in the 1860s, Barrow Bridge Chimney was a part of the Halliwell Bleach Works up until its closure more than 100 years later.

According to folklore Fred Dibnah climbed it to win "ten bob" as a teenager and he climbed it again to work on it as a steeplejack. 

The Times obituary to him after he died on November, 6, 2004, said he was instrumental in its Grade-II listing by Historic England.

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.