A plan to demolish an Ilkley garage and replace it with a £1.5 million sheltered housing complex has been rejected by Ilkley Parish Council.

The Parish Council's planning committee has recommended that the plan to replace Station Garage with the four-storey building should not go ahead.

The official objection has prevented the plan being approved by planning officers alone and must go before a planning committee.

It will now have to be scrutinised at the next meeting of the Keighley Area planning committee in October, despite there being no other objections. The delay has angered garage owner Tim Webster who has been negotiating to move his Rhydding Motor Company to another site in Ilkley.

In a letter to the representatives of the developer, parish councillors outlined their reasons for objecting.

One was "the intensification of traffic on Springs Lane'' which was strongly disputed by Mr Webster. He said that until recently the garage sold petrol which involved 100 cars entering and leaving the premises each day.

Extra traffic was generated by the servicing operation and transporters arriving to deliver cars for sale caused traffic hold-ups in the area.

The 47-apartment complex would generate far less traffic movements than a garage and car sales business.

The Parish Council also cites over-development and inadequate provision for service vehicles, as well as insisting that the four-storey building should be reduced to two and suggesting that an underground car park be provided.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth is concerned about the amount of parking space needed at the housing complex.

"I am not upset that a plan as extensive as this comes to the committee, but I am not against it," she said.

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