A bid to turn the former home of an illegal bazaar into indoor football pitches is back on - after an appeal was lodged against planning refusal.

Earlier this year, planning officers had recommended the plans for the former Shires Bathroom site in Beckside Road, Lidget Green, get the go-ahead.

However, the scheme was rejected at the Bradford Area Planning Panel meeting in May, citing loss of an employment site and adverse affect on traffic and pedestrian movements as reasons.

Shahid Ali, who wants to create five pitches for five-a-side football on the site, has lodged an appeal against the decision.

In a planning appeal statement, Mr Ali said he totally disagreed with the panel's decision, adding: "Regarding the loss of employment zone, the existing building covers approximately 25,500 sq metres and the proposed area is only 4,560 sq metres, which is only 18 per cent of its floor area. A large proportion of the existing building will still be in use as warehousing.

"The proposed site will also employ about five employees, such as two football trainers, one receptionist, one admin staff and one cleaner."

Mr Ali also said his proposal would reduce the number of lorries using the site and that a traffic management system would separating existing warehouse traffic from vehicles and pedestrians using the football pitches.

His statement added: "It's a shame that such a large building is just sitting there with not enough tenants in there. It could be put to some good use.

"As there are no five-a-side indoor football pitches in this area, this site would be just right for that."

As well as the pitches, the site would have a 53-space car park.

Asif Khawaja, who is agent for the appeal, said: "I thought it (the decision) was completely unfair. The planning officers actually recommended it for approval.

"It will bring something different to the area, rather than a derelict building. A five-a-side will be used by younger people to play football - there are no other pitches near there."

The site used to be home to the Tradex Bazaar, which was run without permission. From 2011 the building housed the bazaar and applications were made for retail use. One was withdrawn, a second refused in 2012, and an appeal dismissed last year.

Despite being issued with stop notices by the Council, father and son Mohammed and Khalid Saeed continued to operate the market arguing that their business was for tradespeople only.

The pair were found guilty of contravening the two stop notices issued.