Audacious plans have been submitted to build a house inside a 260ft (80m) Victorian chimney that legendary steeplejack Fred Dibnah once 'climbed for a bet'.<br /><br />An anonymous applicant hopes to turn the 160-year-old Barrow Bridge Chimney in Bolton, Greater Manchester, into a property within a 360 degree, glass structure. <br /><br />The grade-II listed building will have an elevator from the ground floor to the first floor, which will be 60ft in the air, according to plans submitted to the council.<br /><br />The futuristic property would also have a lounge area, three bedrooms and two bathrooms in what is thought would be the first house of its kind in the UK.<br /><br />Television personality Fred Dibnah is said to have climbed it to win 'ten bob' as a teenager and he later again to work on it as a steeplejack, taking down the top two levels of it.<br /><br />Developers first submitted plans to convert the Octagonal chimney stack in 2011 after it had stood idle for 30 years. <br /><br />But little work has been done since plans were approved, on the condition that work began by 2014.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Tony Lang, of architect firm RT Design said at the time of the initial application: “The work would preserve the chimney stack, and provide a regular presence on the site that will curtail the use of the area as a dumping ground.<br /><br />“The project really has that wow factor and I hope that others find it as exciting as us.”<br /><br />But Hilary Fenton, whose house is less than 50 yards from the chimney, said she had barely seen any work carried out on the chimney in more than 10 years.<br /><br />Hilary, 67, who has lived next to the chimney for 20 years, said: "If they're going to build it, build it. But our biggest concern is whether it is a viable building and what's the implication of it being in disrepair?<br /><br />"It's just been becoming more and more unkempt over the years. There are trees growing out of it now.<br /><br />"Planning permission was given more than 10 years ago, but in the meantime, the site's not managed and we don't know if it's safe.<br /><br />"My worry is that if they're not maintaining that now, are they going to do it when the building starts?<br /><br />"Children are playing in the area and it's just been left to rack and ruin."<br /><br />Bolton Council approved planning permission for the site of the chimney around 12 and a half years ago.<br /><br />A planning report from the council: "The development commenced within the timeframe of condition one of the approval.<br /><br />"The LPA [Local Planning Authority] has no counter-evidence to contradict the applicant's evidence."<br /><br />Built in 1863, the chimney was part of the power system of the nearby Halliwell Bleach Works<br /><br />The works were founded by Peter Ainsworth in 1739, and acquired a reputation in the early 19th Century for the early use of chlorine gas in the bleaching process.<br /><br />The chimney became a grade- two listed structure in 1974, but fell into disrepair when the bleach
