Vape shop container extension 'unacceptable'

A retrospective planning application to extend the business next to Bradford's Orange Street car park was submitted

Plans to extend a 24-hour vape and grocery shop housed inside shipping containers have been deemed "unacceptable".

A retrospective planning application to extend the business next to Orange Street car park off Leeds Road, Bradford, was submitted to Bradford Council.

The business had been operating as a chai café until it was converted, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said, with a second shipping container added to the front of the café in April.

Highways officers said the council-owned car park was for the use of local businesses and residents rather than a "direct use for any trading purposes".

In 2020 a shipping container was installed next to the car park and it was soon converted into a café called Chaii Walay.

Retrospective plans for the café were submitted, but refused by Bradford Council twice.

In late 2021 a government planning inspector overturned Bradford Council's decision.

Since then, Chaii Walay closed and became a store called Super Stop.

Discussing the latest application, officers said: "The loss of any public car parking spaces would be unacceptable.

"Furthermore, the traffic generated would be likely to obstruct vehicular car park movements and could lead to conditions prejudicial to highway and pedestrian safety.

"Therefore, this retrospective development is unacceptable in highway terms."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.