Bradford: Plans for mural celebrating car culture approved

The Grade ll Listed building is currently an events venue

A new mural celebrating young people's passion for cars has been given the green light.

The artwork by street artist Mohammed Ali will be painted on the site of the Connaught Rooms in Manningham Lane, Bradford.

The "culturally enriching" mural will feature a bright image of cars.

It will also help promote the Fuelling Futures campaign, which aims to use young people in Bradford's passion for cars to boost their skills.

The plans were approved by Bradford Council at a meeting on Thursday, though it is not known when work will start.

'Visually appealing'

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the application was submitted by arts group The Leap, who said they "want to take the passion that young people in Bradford have for cars and car culture and steer it towards an educational outcome."

They said they hope the mural would provide a "visually appealing and culturally enriching alternative" to "unlawful" advertisements previously been installed on the site.

The Grade II listed building is currently an events venue, but was originally built as a Masonic Hall.

Mr Ali was described as "a street-artist that uses his art to empower communities, often celebrating community stories around faith and migration".

Planning officers said the mural would be painted on plywood panels and installed onto the wall rather than directly painted onto the stone work to reduce damage to the fabric of the building.

It will not be illuminated to help preserve the character of the building, they added.

No objections to the proposed mural were raised, although one condition of the approval is that it can only remain in place for five years.