PLANS to build new industrial units at a riverside business park have been refused due to the "probability" the site could flood.
An application to build six light industrial units at Riverside Business Park on Royd Ings Avenue, Keighley, was submitted to Bradford Council by Tom Gibson.
The site is next to the River Aire, and the application said the development would create "much needed smaller light industrial units" in the town.
Planning officers said while an application to bring employment to the town "would be welcomed" they pointed out that the site lay in a flood zone.
The Environment Agency had said that the development would only be acceptable if the applicant submitted a "sequential test" that would prove there were not other sites with a lower flood risk the development could be built.
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They pointed out no such test had been submitted with this application.
Refusing the scheme, planning officers said: "There is no evidence that the sequential test does not need to be applied and it is not known whether or not there are other sites available at lower flood risk. The Council is therefore taking a precautionary approach to flood risk and the application therefore fails to accord with (planning) policy."
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