Supermarket boss Sir Ken Morrison was praised by a councillor for sticking with Bradford as he was given the green light to build a new headquarters which will bring jobs to the city.

The supermarket chain was given the go-ahead for a new head office, which will house more than 500 staff on a greenfield site at Gain Lane, Thornbury - despite an impassioned plea from residents to refuse planning permission.

Margaret Munton, speaking on behalf of Gain Lane residents, said people felt they were already taking their lives in their hands when walking down the road because of hazards from overtaking cars.

Mrs Munton told members of the Bradford area planning panel: "We find it hard enough to get out of our driveways. We feel it's unsafe, and we also feel Sir Ken should not be building on Green Belt land."

But the committee heard the site, an open field surrounded by trees and housing, had been taken out of the Green Belt in 1993 when it was allocated as an employment site.

And the provision of pedestrian refuges and a ghost island would prevent overtaking and allow safe access to residents' drives.

Councillor Ann Ozolins said the proposed new headquarters was a major development.

She said: "The last time Sir Ken was refused in Bradford when he had a prime planning application we all thought he would move out of Bradford and abandon us. It's a good thing he decided to keep his headquarters in Bradford and use some of their resources for employment."

The committee was told the proposed building, the first of a three-phase office and training facility development, would house 514 staff, with more than 200 transferring from Wakefield, and a future planned expansion to 650 staff.

It was seen by Morrisons as a "significant and unique" relocation of its workforce and they wished to provide the incentive to work exclusively in Bradford. Planners agreed the development would not harm residential or visual amenities or highway safety.

The panel granted planning permission subject to a number of conditions and agreements, which included paying £10,000 to the Council to provide a kerbside pedestrian video detection system at the Fagley Road-Gain Lane traffic lights.

The committee also gave its approval for a new Manningham Labour Club to replace the one burned down during the last riots.

The club, with residential accommodation for a steward, will be built on land at Bull Royd allotments, Four Lane Ends.

There had been concern that the club's application did not make alternative provision for allotments. But the committee was told that, although the club was a private organisation, it would also be used by community groups. The site had not been used as allotments for some time.