WORK to convert a derelict city centre building into flats is almost complete – but planners say a new bin storage area “harms” the Victorian property.

In 2020, Bradford Council granted planning permission to convert 16 - 18 Mill Street, a vacant Grade II listed 1870s warehouse building, into 27 flats.

Before the work started the building looked in a poor state, with boarded up or smashed windows.

The conversion is almost complete, and developers HM Empire Estates recently applied to the Council to discharge one of the conditions of the planning approval – that details of the bin storage facilities next to the Conservation Area building be submitted before the work is completed.

A timber bin storage area next to the building has now been completed, and the application to discharge this condition says: “A tanalized timber clad enclosure has been formed within the car park to the Client’s design.

“The Client opines that the proposals are an appropriate response to their setting.”

But the Council has refused to sign off on this design, saying: “The bin storage area, by reason of the position, design, construction materials and overall appearance is considered to result in harm to the setting of grade II listed buildings and the character and appearance of the Cathedral Precinct Conservation Area.”