A Keighley business man has pledged £500,000 from his own pocket to house the homeless.

Garry Bennett, 38, is seeking planning permission to convert a disused mill building on Coney Lane, Keighley, into 23 flats to house 36 people.

He is specifically aiming the plans at the young homeless and will provide 14 single appartments, six doubles, two for three people and one for four people.

Mr Bennett says: "There are enough homeless people about. If they don't have a chance when they are young, they are going to be stuck in a rut. If you help them, it will turn them around."

He bought the mill - the former Maurice Rees textile company - 11 months ago. It has been empty for the past nine years.

Mr Bennett merely sees his plan as a means of saving the building from being pulled down, something he feels has already happened to too many other buildings in Keighley. "The building is absolutely sound," he says. "I will sandblast it and put new windows in, but keep it the same on the outside. It is beautiful architecturally."

Mr Bennett approached Keighley's Single Regenera-tion Budget (SRB) Board for a grant for the development, but was unsuccessful. He says: "I applied verbally for a grant, but was told that there was no money available."

The £18.7 million pot of SRB money was allocated to Keighley several years ago by the Government to regenerate parts of the town. Every year, the SRB Board has to decide where money will be spent and divides areas of need into categories such as housing, employment or education.

Chairman of the Board Cllr Andy Mudd says the year's SRB money has already been allocated to various schemes, probably before Mr Bennett made any enquiries. He says: "It is not that there is no money left. There were a number of quite large bidders for money allocated to housing. I know nothing about this planning application, but money has been allocated to the schemes that have gone ahead, such as Hillworth Lodge."

Other 'Urban Village' sites developed with SRB cash are in the Temple Street and Henry Street areas of Keighley.

Mr Bennett now plans to pay for the conversion with his own money, some of which will have to be borrowed. He has not yet decided how the flats will be let. "I will give the council priority over them, if they want it," he says. "I am open to anything."

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