A DECISION on whether to approve plans to demolish a pub to make way for flats has not yet been made – despite a planning officer’s report approving the scheme being published last week.

Last Thursday Bradford Council uploaded a planning officer’s report approving an application to replace the Prospect of Bradford Hotel on Bolton Road with a new build development of 48 flats.

The report weighed up responses from various different Council departments before concluding: “The scheme is acceptable and present no concerns with regard to residential or visual amenity and highway safety.”

It then listed a number of conditions for the approved plans.

The Telegraph & Argus ran a story about the approval on Friday.

However, the day after it was uploaded, the planning officer's report was removed from the Council’s website, meaning the application was once again live, with no official decision.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: An artist's impression of the planned flatsAn artist's impression of the planned flats (Image: Applicant)

When the T&A queried this, a Council spokesperson said the report had been “uploaded too early” – and subsequently taken down.

Since it was removed, a response to the plans by the Council’s Biodiversity Team has been uploaded, revealing that the team are “unable to support the application” as it goes against planning policies.

The application to demolish the long empty pub and replace it with a development of one, two, and three-bed flats was submitted by Horsforth-based The Funding Globe Ltd last year.

The development would include communal garden spaces and undercroft parking.

But the applicants had told Bradford Council that it would not be viable for the development to include any affordable housing.

The planning officer’s report that was uploaded to the Council’s website before being removed agreed with this, and suggested the normal affordable housing requirements could be waived in this case.

Shortly after the Planning Officer’s report was removed from the Council website, a response from the Council’s Biodiversity Team was uploaded to the planning portal.

It raises concerns that the plans do not include any detail on how the development will increase biodiversity – a new requirement for developments in Bradford.

It also points out that the site is a short distance from the Boars Well Urban Wildlife Reserve – a popular spot for birds and butterflies.

It adds: “Developments in such close proximity should provide landscaping and biodiversity enhancements which ameliorate the designation. These proposals do not do this and will result in a weakening of the habitats.

“We are unable to support this application as it does not comply with the National Planning Policy Framework.”

A decision is expected later this month.