Derelict warehouse to be converted into flats

The Grade II listed former warehouse is set to be turned into 13 flats

A former warehouse dating from the 1880s is to be converted into 13 flats after plans were approved.

The Grade II listed former warehouse, on Chapel Street, in Bradford’s Little Germany, has been derelict for more than a decade.

Iqbal Singh submitted the application to convert the building into apartments last year.

Bradford Council planners said the work would make a “modest contribution” to the goal of creating 3,500 new homes in the city centre.

The application suggested work to restore and convert the building would start shortly after any approval, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It added the residential use would “bring a hustle and bustle and activities back into the local community and assist with a social role and night life".

Officers said the proposed development would “strike an acceptable balance between accommodating modern needs and preserving the historical integrity of the listed building”.

“The core strategy indicates that Bradford city centre has been identified for 3,500 new homes, this development will play a role, albeit modest, in meeting that target," they added.

Planners have said there was a need to develop larger homes with "two beds or more" in the city.

However, they said while this particular development would provide mostly one-bedroom accommodation, the building has “almost no capacity for extension given it is a Grade II listed building within the Little Germany conservation area and its tight relationship with other buildings”.

The warehouse has been derelict for more than decade, with the application adding that the building “has been occupied by pigeons and a lot of pigeon’s droppings have started to accumulate”.