A STREET lamp which suddenly appeared in the heart of Saltaire World Heritage Site has sparked a flood of criticism for its ill-fitting design.

It has been installed at the Victoria Road end of Caroline Street and, at present, is a bare galvanised steel post.

Saltaire resident for 16 years Francis Cafferty is co-founder of the village's preservation society and said its website had been swamped with negative comments after it featured an image of the offending lamppost.

"I was very surprised when I saw it because it's so obviously out of place - it's just wrong," Mr Cafferty said.

"It's a totally inappropriate design in the World Heritage Area Site - about which the Council is drafting a new management proposal to increase its popularity."

The Telegraph & Argus revealed in July that the Council was cracking down on Saltaire residents who had fitted front doors deemed inappropriate to the area.

And Mr Cafferty said many felt the lamppost fell foul of the Council's own rules on good taste.

"I think when Bradford Council sends out enforcement letters to some houses to tell them their doors don't meet necessary standards and then just bung in something like this it really smacks of double standards.

"It seems like a case of "do as we say, not as we do".

"Bradford Council should be setting a shining example when it comes to such things in Saltaire and this lamp is certainly not that.

"If we make any alterations to our houses then there are very strict rules about the design and materials which we use and rightly so and those rules should apply to the Council as well."

Mr Cafferty also drew attention to plans for improvements to nearby Victoria Road which included removal of trees and stylistically returning it to the1850s.

"On the one hand they want to keep the place like a museum, but on the other hand are sticking in things like this lamp," he said.

A married couple who live in a terraced house right beside the new lamp asked not to be named, but said they were not surprised by the unwelcome new street furniture:

"It's always the same around here - they put a new attendant's shelter on the toilets opposite and it's just a rough breezeblock wall.

"Yet again, it's just one rule for the council and one for us," the householder said.

Shipley ward Councillor Martin Love said he was unaware of complaints about the new lamp, but would investigate.

Helen Thornton, World Heritage Site Officer - Saltaire, said: "During a maintenance visit to replace the lamp in one of the concrete columns on Caroline Street it was discovered that the concrete column was cracked and as a result needed replacement.

" A new steel column has been erected adjacent to the existing one awaiting the electricity company to transfer the supply to the new one.

"Once this has been completed the old one will be removed and the steel column painted in the appropriate colour for the World Heritage Site.

"There is no specific management policy for lamppost design in the World Heritage Site. We would like to address a whole range of public realm design issues, including street furniture, and have included an objective in the draft World Heritage Site Management Plan which is available for public consultation at bradford.gov.uk/consultations.

"There is also a drop in public consultation event on September 10, 2pm to 7pm, at Caroline Street Social Club to which all residents are invited."

* The draft report on a new Saltaire World Heritage Action Plan will be presented to a meeting of Bradford Council's regeneration and economy overview scrutiny committee on Wednesday. The consultation process is under way until October in which local residents and business are asked to comment on schemes to capitalise on Saltaire's World Heritage Site status.