PLANS have been given the go-ahead to build 151 new homes on the site of the former Clark and Butcher mill in Soham. The scheme for Lion Mills allows some of the land to be transferred to nearby old people s housing complex, Keith Leonard House, for an ex

PLANS have been given the go-ahead to build 151 new homes on the site of the former Clark and Butcher mill in Soham.

The scheme for Lion Mills allows some of the land to be transferred to nearby old people's housing complex, Keith Leonard House, for an extension, car parking and open space.

Members of East Cambridgeshire District Council's planning committee backed the project on Wednesday subject to a number of conditions including highway considerations.

The plans mark the end of an era in Soham as Lion Mills has stood as a recognisable face of the town for the last 400 years.

There has been a mill on the site at Mill Corner as far back as the 1600s and it had been run successfully as a flour mill by its owners Clark and Butcher for 116 years.

Amongst its most famous clients was the biscuit- maker McVities, who bought flour from Lion Mills for several years.

In 2005, however, the mill closed with losses of up to £2 million and 43 jobs were made redundant.