A PLANNING panel’s discussion over a new convenience store in Haworth ended abruptly after the applicant told councillors they were looking at the wrong plans.

The decision on plans to demolish Haworth Fire Station and build a Co-op in its place was deferred after the panel’s chair said they would look like “bloody idiots” if they made a judgement based on the wrong plans.

The application went before Bradford Council’s Keighley and Shipley Area Planning Panel yesterday, with planning officers recommending the scheme for approval.

The fire station, at the junction of Bridgehouse Lane and Station Road, shut in 2014, and the application to build a convenience store in its place was submitted last year.

It would be a similar size to the Tesco convenience store on Otley Road in Baildon.

A report going before the committee revealed that 38 people had written to the Council in support of the plans, but 13 people had objected to them, including a representative for Spar, which has a convenience store nearby.

Co-op plan for Haworth fire station site recommended for approval

At yesterday’s meeting, members discussed traffic issues around the site, with some saying a recently installed mini roundabout at the junction did little to slow down cars.

With a plans of the proposed Co-op site projected on a screen in front of councillors, members discussed the highways improvements that would accompany the new store, including a new public walkway outside the store on Station Road and part of Bridgehouse Lane.

They debated whether pedestrians would be able to safely walk to the site

After about 40 minutes of discussion, David Brackenridge, from applicants Dalehead Properties, pointed out to members that they were looking at the wrong plans. He said the most recent plans they had submitted included details of an uncontrolled pedestrian crossing at the end of Bridgehouse Lane.

He said: “I’ve spent 15 months of my life getting this to this committee and now the wrong plans are up here. I’ve been at the side almost crying about this.”

This revelation was followed by a period of confusion, with planning officers maintaining that the plans they were showing were what had been submitted by the applicant.

Chair of the committee Councillor Doreen Lee (Lab, Keighley East) said: “As a planning committee we expect the right plans in front of us. If we don’t then we end up with egg on our face. We’ll look like bloody idiots.

“We can’t make a decision if we don’t have the right plan. We have to defer this to the next meeting, otherwise there will be egg on my face and egg on this committee's face. If this went to an appeal then we’d have had it.”

The next meeting will be held next month.