AN Ombudsman is asking Bradford Council to apologise to a resident after it failed to record why it allowed a pub to be turned into a mosque.

The Bradford Planning Panel approved an application to turn the former Royal Hotel on Fagley Road into a place of worship, the Sayyidah-Aminah Jamia Masjid mosque, in March 2013, even though its own experts had advised them to block the conversion.

A woman living near the site complained to the local government Ombudsman, who ruled that the Council "failed to provide reasons for granting planning permission".

However, the report goes on to say that even if the panel had followed procedure, there was still a possibility planning permission would have been granted.

As well as apologising to the complainant, left anonymous in the report, the Council will have to make sure that in future the reasons for approving applications are recorded.

The finding will be discussed by the Council's Regulatory and Appeals Committee on Thursday.