Man denies developing poor quality housing

Holme View Care Home was closed by Bradford Council in 2017

The owner of a former care home in Bradford has appeared in court after being accused of turning it into poor quality housing.

Munjit Singh Dulay, the owner of the former Holme View Car Home on Gillingham Green, appeared at Bradford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday charged with failing to comply with a planning contravention notice relating to the property.

His company MB Estate Ltd faced the same charge. Mr Dulay, 59, of Bristol, denied the charge, and will go on trial in October.

The home was closed by Bradford Council in 2017 and sold to Mr Dulay, who had planned to convert the building into social housing.

In January 2024, Bradford Council issued an enforcement notice against the property, saying work to convert the site into housing had begun without planning permission, and was of a poor quality, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The notice said: "The development is of poor quality appearance, materials and form, harms the visual amenity of the area and does not provide housing of high quality and design; does not put the quality of place first and harms the character of the neighbourhood in which it is sighted."

It required the site's owners to "demolish the unauthorised building consisting of the construction of residential units" and "remove from site all materials and waste resulting from the demolition of the building."

The notice took effect in February 2024, and gave a six-month deadline for the demolition to be completed.

The half-finished building work still stands on the site.

Earlier this year Bradford Council decided to prosecute the matter.

The charge put to Mr Dulay on Wednesday was that "between 16 August 2024 and 19 February 2025 at Bradford you failed to comply with a requirement of a planning contravention notice within 21 days of its service on you by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council."

Mr Dulay pleaded not guilty to the charge.

He also pleaded not guilty to the same charge that was put to MB Estate Ltd – which is based at the same address as Mr Dulay.

He told magistrates that he would argue that he never received the enforcement notice.

He was not represented in the brief court appearance, but told magistrates he would have legal representation at the trial, and that his architect would also be in attendance.

The trial will be held at Bradford Magistrates' Court on 29 October.

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