CARS will have to be removed from a canalside area in Shipley after planning officers said they were a “blight on the land.”

Vehicles have been stored on a plot of land at the side of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, at Ashley Mills, since last year, and 20 vehicles are currently on site.

J Ashraf had submitted a retrospective application to store the vehicles (pictured) there for two years, saying they were not scrap, but would be repaired and eventually moved.

But planning officers have refused the application, saying: “The use of this site for the storage of motor vehicles is completely unacceptable. The use represents a blight of the land to the detriment of visual amenity being at odds with the character and vibrancy of the surrounding canal side area.

“The presence of large quantities of vehicles will compound the visual signs of abandonment.

"The proposed use would have a negative impact on both the character, appearance and setting of both the Leeds-Liverpool Canal Conservation Area and the nearby World Heritage Site at Saltaire to the west."

The Canal and Rivers Trust had raised concerns about the site, as had housing provider Incommunities, the headquarters of which faces the site.