A Shipley residents’ group has started an online petition in support of Bradford planners’ decision to refuse a supermarket development on the site of the Crossley Evans waste recycling site in the town.

Councillors refused planning permission for the superstore and cafe, standalone restaurant and petrol station at Otley Road last December.

The applicant GMI Developments have appealed to the Secretary of State in a bid to overturn the decision and a ruling on whether it goes ahead will now be made following a public inquiry expected to start in September.

Wilf Brooks, of the Hall Royd Area Residents’ Association (HRARA), said: “The planning committee sent a clear message to the developers when they refused permission for their wholly inappropriate proposal, and instead approved the Morrisons and Skipton Properties regeneration scheme at Windhill.

“The Council stated four reasons for turning down the GMI development: a detrimental impact on the highway network; issues relating to electricity cables, water mains, public sewers and a culverted watercourse affecting the site; the loss of a valuable rail freight siding and the loss of specialist metal recycling business Crossley Evans,” said retired health and safety consultant Mr Brooks.

“Recent road works at Otley Road and Canal Road caused total traffic chaos and gave drivers and Hall Royd Area residents a taste of what life would be like with a supermarket on the Crossley Evans site.

“Where’s the sense in wiping out a 100-year old local employer, working railway siding and countless independent businesses in Shipley town centre; replacing them with an air-polluting, congestion-creating supermarket?

“With Morrisons at Windhill getting the go-ahead, there is simply no need for another supermarket in Shipley.”

Neither would-be developers GMI nor Crossley Evans wanted to comment on the petition, which calls on the Planning Inspectorate to uphold the decision to refuse planning permission and which is available online at tinyurl.com/SaveCrossleyEvans The deadline for representations has been extended to Wednesday, April 30, 2014.