Soft drinks giant Princes is expected to stay in Bradford - despite losing its fight to build a new national distribution centre on fields off Cross Lane.

Britain's third biggest soft drinks company now plans to develop warehouses in a former weaving mill at the back of its factory in Toftshaw Lane, Bradford.

The company has told the Council that warehouses, which would be developed in the existing building, could bring up to 100 jobs.

Princes pulled out of its plans to build a huge distribution centre on the fields off Westgate Hill, near the A650 Drighlington bypass last year.

It dropped the scheme after residents organised a massive protest and went to Secretary of State for Transport and Environment in the Regions John Prescott in a bid to stop it.

More than 600 people wrote to Bradford Council objecting to the plan - the second biggest protest the Council had ever received to an individual planning application.

English Heritage stepped in because the land is in the area where the battle of Adwalton was fought in the Civil War.

But the company withdrew after a date was set for a public inquiry.

Princes has now submitted a planning application to change the use of a building behind its premises on the West Yorkshire Industrial Estate to warehousing.

It plans to acquire the building from Carpets International, which is also currently using it for warehouses. Planning officers say there will be no difference to the operation.

But the new scheme could still be hit by controversy over fears of increased traffic on to Tong Street. The road is one of the busiest in Bradford and is hit by a constant stream of heavy traffic.

Councillor John Ruding (Lab, Tong) is in talks with highways officers about its possible effect.

He said: "I would not want to see anything which would make Tong Street any worse, particularly where it meets Holme Lane. It is a matter of concern to me."

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