Hopwood DePree: Hollywood star who moved to UK to restore ancestral family manor embroiled in row with Rochdale council

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Hopwood DePree moved his life from sunny LA to Middleton, Greater Manchester in 2017, when he entered into an agreement with the council to restore the Hopwood Hall, a Grade II listed 1420s building. But after the family’s two male heirs were killed in the First World War, Mr DePree’s ancestor’s sold the hall in 1922 to Lancashire Cotton Corporation before Rochdale Council purchased it in the 1990s. The volunteers and locals who have worked so tirelessly are devastated.” The council say the agreement hinged on Mr DePree’s ability to bring forth a commercially viable business model to secure the “long term future of the hall, alongside a detailed planning permission”, which it says he had not produced. The petition, which has collected over 4,000 signatures, asks the council to allow volunteers and Mr DePree resume their work, which has included input from “many volunteers from the local community, as well as heritage professionals, national and international funders and supporters.” open image in gallery Hopwood DePree Leader of Rochdale Borough Council, Councillor Neil Emmott, said: “Hopwood Hall is a local historic asset which means a great deal to the people of Middleton and indeed the wider borough.