Councillors are being asked to rule on controversial plans to convert student accommodation in Ilkley into luxury apartments.

Bradford Council's town and country planning committee will meet tomorrow to consider plans for the Westwood site and the Hillside annexe in the town.

Both are recommended for approval by Council officers and if they do go ahead they will create 42 new apartments.

The application for the Westwood annexe, a site on Queens Road and Westwood Drive, next to the former Glenmoor training centre, involves demolishing existing student accommodation and replacing it with 24 two-bedroomed apartments in two blocks.

The application has been deferred twice by Ilkley Parish Council, which has given no recommendation to the planning committee.

But a report to be presented to the committee tomorrow says objections have been raised from 38 residents, Ilkley Civic Society and Councillor Martin Smith.

The objectors say the apartments would be out of keeping with the area because they would be too high and large. They also claim the blocks would overshadow neighbouring properties and would increase traffic.

The report says: "The application has provoked strong local opposition."

It adds: "The applicant has now deleted proposals to alter Queens Road carriageway, which local residents feared would add to local traffic hazards." The application for the Hillside complex in Crossbeck Road, Ilkley, is for 18 apartments in an existing three-storey building.

Objectors say the proposed access is too close to a bend in Crossbeck Road and a planned car park on the site would mean the loss of an amenity.

A report to the planning committee says: "This is a prominent site in the Ilkley Conservation Area and the submitted plans show a good conservation scheme retaining traditional exterior details."

The application was deferred by councillors in April pending further investigations of an alternative access point.

The applicant has now submitted an alternative access to the west of the building.

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