Retirement flats approved despite library concerns

Plans for a town centre retirement home have been approved, but there are fears a new library meant to be built alongside the development may be scrapped.

On Thursday, Bradford Council approved the application by McCarthy Stone to build 46 retirement flats on the former Ian Clough Hall site in the centre of Baildon.

The hall, which included the town's library, was demolished last year – with owners Bradford Council selling the site for development.

When the work was announced, the council revealed plans to open a new library in the neighbouring Baildon Club building, which the local authority had purchased, but due to council budget concerns, those plans were later paused.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Baildon Library was temporarily moved to a former shop unit until work on the new facility was completed.

But with Bradford Council facing a huge budget gap, the new library was one of several schemes which had since been put on hold.

A meeting of the authority's regulatory and appeals committee heard concerns over the future of the planned library.

Councillor Gill Dixon, of Baildon Town Council, said there had been an agreement with Bradford Council that the library would be replaced if Ian Clough Hall was sold.

She said: “There is an obligation to Baildon to complete this exciting project – it would be a groundbreaking space that could be used for City of Culture.”

However, planning officers pointed out that the issue of whether the new library would ever be developed was beyond the remit of the committee.

The meeting also heard support for McCarthy Stone's plans for the retirement home development.

Debbie Davies, Conservative councillor for Baildon, said: "The 46 dwellings will go some way to meeting the need for retirement housing, and I’d rather it be built on brownfield than greenfield.

"I also recognise we have an ageing population in Baildon."

But she also pointed out concerns that the development would mean the loss of some public parking spaces in the town centre.

She said she feared this could put pressure on neighbouring streets and urged Bradford Council to urgently look into the matter.

Highways officer John Rowley said visitors would still be able to park in the public car park if the retirement home car park was full.

He added: "Residents are aware when they buy a place like this that there will be limited spaces."

A report to members revealed that 270 people had objected to the plans.

They were told that concerns ranged from claims the new building would be an over-development of the site, to fears it would block the views of nearby St John’s Church and could devalue other properties.

There were also objections over traffic and a lack of affordable housing within the development.

Members approved the plans, but altered one of the conditions.

Initially, planners had said the permission should allow construction on Saturdays from 07:30 to 13:00, but members voted to change this to noon to 17:30.

The meeting was told that the development would take about 12 months to complete.

After the meeting, Ms Dixon said the approval of the planning application was "quite a milestone for Baildon".

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