REDEVELOPMENT plans for a long-empty Victorian warehouse have re-emerged, 13 years after a similar plan was approved.

In 2006 proposals to turn 16-18 Mill Street into a development of 27 apartments was approved by Bradford Council.

The large building, facing the Travelodge in Bradford city centre, is Grade II listed and dates back to the 1870s when it was built as one of many worsted manufacturing buildings in that area of the city.

But despite the residential conversion being approved, work never started, and the building is currently empty.

Now a new application has been submitted by HM Properties that would again see the building converted into 27 units.

The company says they will be “well-proportioned” one and two-bedroom flats.

The company says the chance of the building once again being used as an employment site is “negligible” and argues that flats would be the best use for the property. It was most recently used as a gym.

The application says: “The current and potential future use of the site as employment premises is considered to be negligible. This site has not attracted any significant business reuse for many years. The proposals seek to bring a vacant, previously-developed site back into beneficial and viable use. Local planning authorities should recognise that residential development can play an important role in ensuring the vitality of centres and set out policies to encourage residential development on appropriate sites.

“The proposals for apartments provide a higher density in an urban location, maximizing the potential of this previously developed and sustainably

located site.

The site has been identified as requiring investment for at least the past 15 years, and since the previous application the building has stood unimproved and continued to decline.

“It is opined that it is now in a poor state of repair and could not be easily adapted to alternative business use. The apartments are envisaged as well-proportioned one and two-bedroom dwellings suitable for anyone wanting to be close to the vibrant heart of the city and the excellent transport links to the wider West Yorkshire area.”

The design of the building is a ‘palazzo’ style - inspired by the Italian Renaissance and popular at the time. As well as the internal refurbishment, the application says these plans will “restore the former glory of the building making good the external envelope, removing the accumulated detritus and replacing the failed windows to match existing”.

In recent years a number of vacant buildings on Mill Street and neighbouring Canal Road have either been converted into flats, or granted permission for such a conversion.

A decision is expected at the end of August.