Pubs and youth centres among 34 Bradford buildings granted community asset status - but is their future as safe as it seems?

But for many communities wanting to safeguard treasured assets, the granting of protected status is only the start of the preservation battle.

One environmental group, which wants to buy a former special school, fears it may be unable to pull the funding together in time as the end of a moratorium on selling the site approaches.

The former Heaton Royds Special School, on Redburn Drive, Shipley, was one of the first buildings to be granted community asset status in 2013. Bradford Community Environmental Project applied to Bradford Council for the added protection that being listed as an asset of community value can provide.

Once listed, the organisation was then informed when the Council wanted to dispose of the building it owned, and BCEP expressed an interest in taking on the old school. The subsequent six month moratorium ends in just over a fortnight.

But Carlton Smith, of BCEP, said they had so far been unable to gather the funding needed - about £750,000 - to both buy the building and complete the work on it.

"We had a bid in to get the money together to buy it, which was unsuccessful. But we are still looking for suitable funding or a generous donor," he said.

"It does need quite a lot of repair work, to take it from a liability to the Council, into an opportunity for us. We have done a lot of business planning and outline costings, but we haven't got the resources to buy it and do it up as yet."

He added that the project involved turning it into a community environmental hub along with Bradford Environmental Action Trust and Northcliffe Environmental Enterprise Trust.

Since September 2012 local authorities have been tasked with maintaining a list as part of the community right-to bid provisions. The act allows communities the time to prepare their bid should the site ever be put up for sale. This means the Council would be notified by the owner of any listed land and property, if they wanted to sell it. This would then trigger a six-week moratorium, giving any local community group or parish council time to express an interest in bidding for the building.

If anyone were to come forward during that period, then the moratorium automatically extends to six months to allow bids to be properly prepared. However, at the end of the six months, the property can be removed from the list of assets of community value, and the owner is free to sell it in any way they choose.

Properties successfully added to the list can then remain there for a period of five years.

In Bradford there have been a variety of buildings added to the list.

Two pubs in Wilsden are the latest landmarks in the district to be listed as assets of community value. It was the local parish council that took the decision to apply to the Council under the Localism Act to prevent The Ling Bob Inn and The Bell Inn from being sold off and lost to the community forever.

Last week the applications were considered at a meeting of Shipley Area Committee, and approved - bringing the list of nominated assets in the district to 34.

The following locations are currently on the approved list: land to the rear of Lister’s Mill; Silsden Youth Centre and Daisy Chain Children’s Centre; Low Hall Road - garage site; Menston Arms pub; The Malt Shovel pub; The Fairfax Club; Fagley Youth and Community Centre; Kings Arms pub; Clayton Library; Haworth Youth and Community Centre; Treetops Children’s Centre; Crossflatts Cricket Club; Changegate car park; The Old Sun pub; Ilkley Town Hall, Library, King's Hall and Winter Garden; and now The Ling Bob Inn and The Bell Inn.

One approved site, the Bradford Playhouse, is currently under appeal by the liquidators, who are expected to also claim compensation from the Council.

The authority has been notified of six listed assets that are currently being disposed of, including Heaton Royds. The other five are: the former Bradford Register Office, 1214 Leeds Road, The Manor House and 2-6 Castle Yard, The Royal Oak pub, and land at Parkway.

While the deadline for expressions of interest on the latter three listings is looming next week, there has already been an expression of interest in the old Register Office.

The fate of the Manor Row Grade II listed building looks set to be decided this summer. Asif Hussain, the chief executive of disability charity Bradnet, hopes to club together with other charities and voluntary organisations to turn the building into a community hub.

The charity turned to the community asset regulations after the Council put the register office building up for sale following the service moving into City Hall. It has since submitted an expression of interest in buying the building, and the deadline for a full bid is in June.

Mr Hussain told the Telegraph & Argus: "We are still preparing our funding plan for this and we are confident to have it all completed by the deadline. At the moment we are still looking at options but are very much interested in buying the building, either by ourselves, or with another organisation."

A further five applications were considered not valid, two were withdrawn and one, Bracken Hall Countryside Centre, was removed following its sale to long-term Baildon residents Stuart and Sally Illingworth in December.

The centre was also one of the first buildings to be added to the list, after it closed its doors in March 2013 following the withdrawal of funding by the Council as part of budget cuts.

It was Baildon Town Council that applied for the designation, and in a partnership between the town council and the Illingworths, they hope to reopen the centre in late 2015. The couple plan on running a hospitality business from one half of the main building, while they have agreed to lease the rest of the building to the town council rent free for 20 years.

The final two bids are for the former public toilets at Station Road in Burley in Wharfedale, and The Round House pub, Main Street, also in Burley in Wharfedale, which have now been withdrawn.