Saltaire World Heritage Site college plan approved

The new centre will be government-funded through the Shipley Towns Fund

Plans for a new college building at the heart of a World Heritage Site in Bradford have been approved despite more than 160 objections.

The £6m community, arts, heritage and future technology centre will be built on a car park in Saltaire.

The village was built by industrialist Sir Titus Salt for workers at his textile mill and was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2001.

Some residents said the centre was not needed and had concerns about parking.

The building will include classrooms to be used by Shipley College, new public toilets, exhibition space and a community classroom, as well as a public garden.

Bradford Council says the design will "add to the ensemble of civic buildings and spaces on Victoria Road"

It will also be the new home of the Saltaire Collection, made up of 6,000 artefacts detailing the history of the village.

The plans were unanimously approved at Bradford Council's Regulatory and Appeals Committee on Thursday, despite concerns raised by residents.

One objector, Philip Pattison, told the meeting: "Although this is a well-intentioned attempt to improve the village, it is not needed.

"Ask anyone in Bradford which area needs regenerating the most and they won't say Saltaire.

"It is a thriving tourist hot spot, visitors throng here. We don't need a new visitors' centre or more college space."

Objectors said the plans for the site off Caroline Street would cut much-needed car parking space

The site of the development was once home to a Sunday school in Salt's model village.

The school was demolished to make way for a car park in the 1970s and it was the loss of this 30-space car park that prompted many of the objections.

The committee heard that although parking space would be lost, highways officers felt any displaced traffic could be accommodated in other village car parks, or on street, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Saltaire is known for its distinctive rows of terraced homes made of Yorkshire stone

Councillor Matt Edwards said: "The building that originally stood there was one that would have made Saltaire important and great.

"It was replaced with a car park, which doesn't add anything to the village.

"There were over 100 objections, but there are over 800 properties in Saltaire, so to say there is an overwhelming opposition to this isn't my interpretation of the situation."

Maggie Smith, of the Saltaire Collection, said moving the items from Shipley College to the new centre would make it easier for the public to view them.

"Saltaire must be the only World Heritage Site without a heritage centre.

"The whole village is like a museum, but it can be very difficult for visitors to access the knowledge and understanding of events in the village's history."