A NEW Taco Bell restaurant will open on a site just yards from where a new secondary school is being built.

The Mexican fast food giant has announced it will occupy a new unit that has been built in Girlington on the junction of Ingleby Road and Thornton Road, in the car park of a KFC.

The new 110 square metre unit is just yards from the site of Eden Boys Academy, a Muslim Boys school that is currently under construction and will eventually have 800 pupils on the rolls.

Bradford Council's take away policy usually prevents new fast food businesses from opening within 400 metres of a school.

But when asked how the new Taco Bell could open in the shadow of a secondary school, the Authority said the policy does not apply in areas classed as a "district centre."

They also pointed out that the Taco Bell would be a restaurant as well as a take away.

Bradford Council's Hot Food Takeaway Supplementary Planning Document was adopted in 2014 as a way of improving public health and tackling childhood obesity - which is still seen as a major problem in the District.

New plans for 800 place boys' academy on Thornton Road

Although existing businesses would not be shut down, the policy did aim to prevent new take aways from opening within 400 metres of a school, park, play area or leisure facility - areas frequented by children.

It would also prevent numerous take aways from opening within a small area.

Since then the policy has led to dozens of applications for take aways being refused by the Council.

However, it does not apply to planned take aways in "District Centres" - such as the city centre or a town or village centre.

The new branch of the international food chain is one of a number opening in the area - with another opening in Greengates.

An application for a new unit "with mixed use" in the KFC car park had been approved by Bradford Council - but the application gave no hint of what business would be opening there.

However, a newer application for signage on the site makes it clear that the unit will be a Taco Bell.

Bradford Council says the new unit is within a District Centre - as there are already numerous shops, restaurants and existing take aways in the busy area.

When the new unit was approved, planning officers said: "The site falls within an allocated district centre and is surrounded by comparable uses.

"The addition of a new mixed use unit will expand the services and choice on offer within the district centre thus contributing to its vitality and viability."

When asked about how a take away was approved despite the new school being just yards away, a Bradford Council spokesperson, said: “This business is both a restaurant and takeaway outlet.

“Bradford Council’s takeaways policy sets out a number of factors, not just proximity to schools, when considering planning decisions.

“Where the site is in a district centre location, as with this application, then the rules around proximity to schools are not necessarily applied due to the potential impact on those centres."

Eden Boys academy is being built on the former Morrisons Headquarters site.

The planning application to build the school referred to the proximity to the KFC and a McDonalds take away.

It said the school layout would be such that entrances and exits to the site were not close to the businesses, and “the building has been set back from Ingleby Road. Therefore the impact from the smells will be limited as the prevailing wind will take these past and away from the building.”