Green light for funeral home to become car garage

The business noted the site was a car garage before it became a funeral home

Plans to convert a funeral home into a car sales garage have been approved.

Airedale Motor Company had asked to convert the former Co-Op Funeral Care branch on Golden Butts Road in Ilkley, noting it had been a garage before it became a funeral home.

Ilkley Town Council objected, citing increased noise disturbance and parking problems, with much of the road reserved for permit holders.

But Bradford Council planning officers said the scheme could be achieved "without causing detrimental harm to the amenity of neighbouring residents or highway safety".

The application said there would be 15 spaces for the display of cars, two for staff and one for customers.

The business would open between 10:00 BST and 17:00 BST and operate on an appointment-only basis, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Addressing concerns about noise disturbance, planning officers said: “It would be highly improbable that such a use would see customers coming very late into the night/early hours of the morning to formally view or test-drive the vehicles.

“The hours of operation are suggested to be up until 17:00 but viewings later into the evening would unlikely cause harmful disturbance to the day-to-day living of nearby residents.”

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