Plan to turn former Sooty museum into flats is approved

Windhill Manor will be known to certain generations of Bradford residents as Sooty’s Wonderful World, an attraction dedicated to the popular character.

Sooty was created by Bradford-born Harry Corbett, nephew of chip shop giant Harry Ramsden, in 1948, after he bought the puppet from a stall in Blackpool for his son Matthew, who went to school in Apperley Bridge.

The pestitential puppet went on to star in numerous TV shows, alongside friends Sweep and Soo.

The Grade II listed former school on Leeds Road, Windhill, became the Sooty attraction in 1987.

It featured props from different Sooty shows, and screens where people could watch old episodes.

It later became an attraction featuring animatronic cats before being converted into office space.

In May, a planning application to turn the building into 21 flats, and turn an on-site school master’s house into another dwelling, was submitted to Bradford Council.

Windhill Manor

The development would include 33 parking spaces to the rear of the property.

The plans, by Monsoon Developments, have now been approved.

The building closed as office space in 2017, with the exception of Millennium Wilmington which used part of the building for offices until the pandemic led to staff working from home.

The developers said efforts had been made to market the site for office use since 2017, but there was “little appetite” for a company to occupy the site.

The Grade II listed building dates back to 1870.

There had been four objections to the plans, with some neighbours raising concerns about the traffic to the site if it was converted into residential use.

The building is on one of the busiest stretches of road in the District - but highways officers pointed out that any vehicle access to the flats would be from the rear of the building.

Planning officers said: “It is considered that the submitted information is sufficient to demonstrate that the site is no longer suitable for business use and the alternative residential is acceptable in principle.

“The site occupies a sustainable location within an existing urban area where there is good quality access to public transport links, amenities and services. The development would contribute towards meeting housing demand.

“The development of 21 apartments and one dwelling is not considered to result in a sufficient number of additional vehicle trips in order to have a significant impact on the highway network in terms of capacity or congestion."