UP to 34 new business units will be built on a key town centre site in Keighley - new plans have revealed.

The Aire Valley Business Centre, off Lawkholme Lane, contains over 338,000 square foot of business space, and is the former site of Peter Blacks - one of the town's biggest employers.

Large swathes of the site are currently being demolished, with the owner saying the units are "aged" and "do not meet modern expectations."

Now a new application to Bradford Council by Manchester based Firloch LTD has reveals the plans for the future of the site.

Much of the buildings in the business centre will be demolished, except the stone Airedale Mill, and 34 modern units built in their place.

The new owners announced plans to redevelop the site in 2019, saying they wanted to restore this commercial area to its former glory."

The land would remain an employment site, new tenants would "be able to design and build space to meet their own requirements."

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Peter Black was founded in the 1940s, using old army webbing to make shopping bags, and went on to employ more than 1,000 workers.

The firm grew to be one of Marks & Spencer’s leading suppliers, but by the 1990s times were changing in Black’s key markets, with the footwear business particularly affected by evolving tastes and cheap foreign imports.

The name disappeared from Keighley in 2012 when parent company Li & Fung decided to move its remaining 62 workers to Manchester.

A "screening opinion request" for the site was submitted to Bradford Council last week. The request is different from a planning application - submitted to establish what reports and document the Council will require when a full application is lodged.

But the request does give some detail of the plans.

The new units will all be classed as employment units, mainly either light industrial or research and development.

They would range in size from between 1,400 square foot and 7,000 square foot.

The documents say: "It is evident from the ad hoc nature of the site's development that the site has evolved over time through the granting of several planning permissions.

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"As a result the development is aged and does not meet market expectations for modern commercial and industrial tenants.

"The new buildings would be modern and energy efficient.

"The existing access off Lawkholme Lane will be retained. The Southernmost Existing access off Alice Street is proposed to be widened, with the Northernmost access to be removed."

Once the new units are built, there will be a slight reduction in the employment space on the site, but the plans say the space that is available will be more attractive to future tenants.