A MUSLIM charity has been granted retrospective planning permission to turn a former Bradford pub into its regional headquarters.

The Al Khair Foundation acquired the old Craven Heifer building, set in a prominent location in Manchester Road, in March last year and announced plans to use the site as its West Yorkshire base.

After undertaking significant renovation work to the building since then, the charity has now received formal permission to convert the site into an office and recording studio, where it plans to make and broadcast programmes for its TV channel.

The organisation started as an Islamic school in London in 2003 and has since developed into an international aid relief group, providing support to victims of major disasters in Kashmir, Haiti, Pakistan, Japan, and Nepal.

Over the past decade, the foundation states it has supported about a million people worldwide with donations of more than £50 million and now "routinely engages in relief missions around the world."

In 2009, it acquired IQRA TV, a free-to-air channel available on SKY, which it says has since become established as one of the "premier broadcasters of quality Islamic-based programmes."

A design and access statement supporting the application said: "The proposal seeks to bring a disused public house back into use as a viable facility, providing a resource for a well-established, popular UK charity.

"Due to being unoccupied, the condition of the property has suffered from deterioration and has become unsightly.

"By permitting change of use, the property can be brought back in to use and in doing so, enhance the existing building and provide a valuable international resource, also bringing local benefits.

"The building will be given a viable use, increasing its longevity and general upkeep."

In his report granting the application, Bradford Council planning officer Richard Cryer wrote: "The proposed change of use to office and recording studio is considered acceptable in principle.

"The proposed office/studio use is not considered to result in any significant impacts on amenity, particularly as the building has some separation to the nearest residential properties.

"No changes are proposed to the building or the site, and so there are not considered to be any material impacts on the street scene."

In June last year, Irfan Rashid, a regional coordinator at Al Khair's head office in London, told the Telegraph & Argus that the decision to open an office in Bradford would complement an already strong support for the charity across the district, adding that the foundation wanted to "expand its community work" in the area.

Upon hearing the plans had been granted, an Al Khair spokesman told the T&A: "We are planning to use the building as a northern studio for our sister company IQRA TV.

"It is an educational TV channel, also showing lifestyle programmes and acting as a fundraising platform for the charity.

"The main IQRA TV studios are in London, and this will be the first studio outside the capital.

"The building will also act as a fundraising and event planning office."

The spokesman added that work was ongoing to ensure the office was open to the public "as soon as possible", with the development set to be completed in "weeks rather than months."