EXTRA off-street parking and offering to remove a mock castle facade have not been enough for a controversial Bradford shisha lounge to gain planning permission.

It is the second time that the owner of the Al Qaza Lounge, a former warehouse building in Mortimer Street, off Thornton Road, has applied to Bradford Council to make his operation "entirely legitimate".

And this is the second time the retrospective change of use and extension plans have been turned down.

Earlier this year the Telegraph & Argus reported how Mohammed Shabir had taken over the business, which had been running without the correct planning permission in place for several years.

In April the bid was refused with the "unsympathetic and incongruous" mock-castle facade and a lack of off-street parking to blame.

However, in the latest application it was proposed that the castle-style boundary wall be replaced with something more in-keeping, and an agreement reached with a nearby business to utilise an extra 60 off-street parking spaces in the evening when the lounge was open.

In documents attached to the planning application it states: "It is considered that the issues previously raised by the Council have been comprehensively responded to in this design statement.

"Given the local demographics, land uses and local support for the proposal as demonstrated by the willingness to offer car parking facilities indicates the proposal has been adequately considered and has overcome the issues previously raised."

But in his report, planning officer Matthew Aveyard, states that while the replacement of the castle facade with "a simple design for the wall" is acceptable, the parking issue still remains.

"While the off-street parking proposed is a way of overcoming the previous reasons for refusal there is no way of ensuring parking would take place in the designated parking spaces as it is unlikely patrons would park there when there is on-street parking available outside the premises and in and around the local streets which is where the parking already occurs.

"In addition to this a planning condition could not be attached to the application as the car parks are outside the application site therefore the use of the car parks could not be enforced."

A further reasons for refusal is that the use of an industrial building as a cafe within an employment zone is considered to be a loss of employment buildings, and that its use as such is considered to be suitable for a main town centre, therefore the applicant would need to demonstrate that sites closer to the city centre are not available.

The site is now the subject of an enforcement investigation and an enforcement notice was served in November against the unauthorised use.

The Telegraph & Argus was unable to contact Mr Shabir for a comment.