Fed-up residents who claim that public money is being wasted tackling arson attacks at a derelict nursing home are celebrating the news that its owner now wants to demolish it.

People living next to The Knoll in Idle, Bradford, have welcomed the decision by the home's owner, Leeds-based ADL, to put in a planning application to Bradford Council to raze the building to the ground.

The home has been a target for thieves, vandals and drug addicts since it closed in 2008 and has been a drag on fire fighters’ time and resources, also putting the lives of crews at risk.

Earlier this month, Jeremy Davies, who is ADL’s managing director, told the Telegraph & Argus he was determined to level the site and sell it as quickly as possible.

But now an application submitted by ADL, which owns other care homes, has been submitted to the Council, much to the delight of Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, who represents Idle and Thackley ward.

The application is now being considered by planners before a decision is made.

Coun Sunderland, who is leader of the Council’s Liberal Democrats group, said: “What we’re all saying it it's about time.This has been a disgraceful waste of public money, turning fire crews out time and time again and putting the lives of those firefighters at risk when they've had to go in to that burning building making sure no-one is trapped inside.

“We now need to get the demolition under way as soon as possible and will be expressing that to the Council. We need it doing as fast as possible before summer comes and young people start to go there again. I really think there should be some kind of charge to companies like ADL which waste public money. It's not on.”

When the T&A previously spoke to Mr Davies about The Knoll he claimed his business had been the “victim” in that Bradford Council had forced its closure of The Knoll, consequently making it a magnet for trouble.

“It’s the bane of my life and we’ve been treated abysmally,” he said at the time.

No-one at ADL was available for further comment yesterday.