Petrol station to replace restaurant and cafe site

The existing buildings will be demolished

Plans to build a new petrol station on a major Bradford road have been approved at the second attempt.

The filling station, and a new shop linked to the development, will replace the Regal Complex, a collection of restaurants and cafes where White Abbey Road meets Whetley Hill.

A similar application was refused by Bradford Council earlier this year after planners raised concerns ranging from the "visually intrusive" design to the poor site layout.

Urban Future Planning Consultancy Ltd submitted amended plans on behalf of applicants Pearl, and the altered plans have now been approved by the council.

Council officers said the filling station would be an acceptable use of the site and the issues that led to the last application being thrown out had been resolved.

The site was originally a filling station, but has since been converted to a restaurant, food businesses and car park, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Pollution fears

The application said the area was "locally referred to as 'Mini Bollywood' given the array of fabric shops and diverse cuisine catering for the area's south east Asian community".

There had been five objections to the plans, with some fearing the filling station would increase pollution on the busy road.

But planners said a busy road into the city centre, with numerous other businesses on it, was a suitable location for a filling station and shop.

The petrol station will open 24 hours a day, but the opening hours for the shop were amended to 6am to midnight.

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.