THE owner of a derelict building just yards from the birthplace of the Brontë sisters is appealing an order made by Bradford Council to “remove the danger.”

In June 2023, parts of the roof of 4 Market Street in Thornton collapsed into the street – leading to the Council introducing an emergency road closure in the village centre.

Building engineers inspected the building, a former pub dating back to the Victorian era, and decided the roof needed to be removed for safety reasons.

The building has remained without a roof ever since, but had been empty for almost a decade before then.

Since the work to remove the roof, the Council has issued two Building Act notices to the owner, M Farid.

One, issued on June 13 2023, informed him that due to the “dangerous state” of the building, the Council would be removing the roof.

The second notice, issued on May 28 this year, called for him, under section 79 of the Building Act 1984, to either renovate or demolish the “ruinous or dilapidated” building.

However, Mr Farid has appealed both of these notices, and the appeal was heard at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The case was adjourned to November after Mr Farid said he did not have the information he needed to argue his case.

Joanne Gleeson, representing Bradford Council, told magistrates there had been little communication about the appeal, saying: “We’re at a loss as to why we are here today.”

She explained that officers visited the building in June 2023 after complaints about the state of the roof, and engineers believed it crossed the threshold of requiring emergency work.

She said: “We had to close the road – it caused a lot of disruption, a lot of concern.

4 Market Street in Thornton4 Market Street in Thornton (Image: Newsquest)

“The building is still empty, and still continues to be of concern to the Council. We issued a section 79 notice to the owner advising him to repair the building or demolish the premises.”

She said Mr Farid had appealed the notices, but had not given a reason what his grounds were. She added: “There is still the issue that the property is unsafe.”

Mr Farid told Magistrates that he had made a Freedom of Information request to the Council for detail of the emergency works on July 4, and the justifications for them – and had since been told he would not get a response until early September.

He said: “Without that information I am unable to represent myself. I request that the court adjourn this case until I get that information.”

Magistrates asked Mr Farid why he had waited over a year to ask for the data he’d need to appeal the notice.

He revealed that he had been billed £8,000 by the Council for the emergency work, and said he had attended Leeds Magistrates Court to ask for guidance on the issue. He claimed he had spoken to someone in admin there about the building control order.

Asked why he went to Leeds and not to Bradford Magistrates, he said Leeds was his closest court, and argued that people can attend any court in the country to ask for legal guidance.

Grilled as to why he hadn’t paid the bill – issued so the cost of the work didn’t fall on the taxpayer – he said he had been waiting for a reminder from the Council.

Asked what the grounds of his appeal would be, Mr Farid said: “The Council overstepped their jurisdiction on July 13.”

He said the authority had failed to give him evidence that proved the building was is such a poor condition that the roof had to be removed.

Mrs Gleeson pointed out that all the people involved with the decision to remove the roof were qualified chartered surveyors, and showed Mr Farid and Magistrates photos they had taken showing the condition of the roof.

After a lengthy back and forth between Magistrates and Mr Farid, the appeal was adjourned to November 21. He was advised that on that date he needed to have his case ready to go, without any “running round in circles” or “he said – she said.”

The former Springfield Hotel, empty for at least a decade, is on the same street as the Brontë Birthplace – an unassuming property that the three Brontë Sisters were born in.

That building, now in public ownership, is being opened up for social and cultural use in time for Bradford’s City of Culture celebrations.