WORK to convert much of a city centre building into flats must not harm the viability of its ground floor shop unit, a Conservation Officer has argued.

The latest set of plans to convert 46 Darley Street into apartments was recently submitted to Bradford Council.

The application, by M Chaudry, is for the vacant former furniture store fronting Darley Street, and a larger building fronting Piccadilly.

46 Darley Street46 Darley Street (Image: Newsquest)

If approved, the building’s lower ground, ground floor, and first floor would be converted into 18 one-bed flats.

77 square metres of commercial space would be retained on the Darley Street side of the ground floor.

The council’s Conservation Officer Jon Ackroyd said the plans could be supported, but raised concern that the work might make the ground floor shop unit unviable – with no access to bin storage.

The Piccadilly side of the buildingThe Piccadilly side of the building (Image: Newsquest)

This could lead to a long-term empty shop unit on a street already plagued by empty shops.

He said: “In principle, the conversion to residential would not cause harm to the heritage significance of the property.

46 Darley Street46 Darley Street (Image: Newsquest)

“However, the remaining commercial space is small, and there is no obvious ability to service the retail space, or for an occupant to access the bin storage area.

“It must be ensured that the ground floor space relating to Darley Street is viable and has the ability to be fully serviced.”