A SCHEME to create an “innovation centre” at a historic farm looks set for collapse after Bradford Council officers warned it would cause “irreversible” harm to the World Heritage Site of Saltaire.

The development at Milner Fields Farm in Gilstead, Bingley, of research laboratories and units for start-up businesses has been proposed by the Hartley Property Group under the name of Bradford Innovation Centre.

The controversial scheme, of which the University of Bradford is a stakeholder, will now go before a Bradford Council planning committee on Monday, May 15, with a recommendation by officers that it is refused due to concerns about its impact.

The green belt site, owned by the Hartley Group, is occupied by a working dairy farm and has strong links to the the family of Saltaire founder, Sir Titus Salt.

Since first announced in 2015, the proposals for the innovation centre has met with considerable protest.

Members of the regulatory and appeals committee, who will decide on the plans, will be told that there have been a total of 1,370 objections against six letters of support.

Among the objectors are councillors in Bingley and Shipley; Bingley and Baildon town councils, and Nick Salt, 71, the great-great-grandson of Sir Titus Salt.

Titus Salt Junior bought the Milner Field Estate in 1869. The old manor house and farm buildings at the top of the estate were then demolished to make way for the building of the new Milner Field house, completed in 1871.

Planning officers have recommended the application be refused for six reasons:

  • that it was inappropriate for the green belt and would lead to “urbanising features”;
  • that it would cause “substantial harm” to the World Heritage Site of Saltaire;
  • that it would have an adverse affect on the Milner Field House historic gardens and parkland;
  • that it would adversely affect the character of the landscape;
  • that it would increase traffic over a single carriageway bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal;
  • and that landscaping plans pose an “unacceptable risk” of affecting the Trench Meadows site of special scientific interest.

In the report to the committee, Helen Thornton, the Council’s World Heritage Site officer, states: “Development of the Milner Field Model Farm will alter the setting of the World Heritage Site and destroy intangible cultural heritage associations.

“The farm’s land will stop being farmed and it will look different and its historic character will be changed, in essence, forever.

“The harm caused by this development to the outstanding universal value of Saltaire is irreversible and substantial.”

Other groups to raise concern include the Yorkshire Gardens Trust, which says landscaping planned for the site would “totally destroy” half of Milner Field’s Historic parkland.

David Downs, who is the tenant at the farm where his family has farmed since 1902, had objected to the scheme on the grounds of the loss of his livelihood.

On hearing the plans had been recommended for refusal, he said: “It has been almost two years for this to even get to a committee. It shows how complicated this whole development has been.

“Other sites would be much more suitable for something like this.

“There was a lot of good research done by objectors, and the Council officers seem to have recognised this.

“They’ve made this recommendation, but we can’t sit back and think it will definitely be refused because of this.”

David Beal, of Bradford Innovation Centre Limited, said he was both “surprised and disappointed” by the recommendation to reject planning permission due to the work which had taken place with senior Council officers “over the last three years to address and resolve all aspects related to the application”.

“Nonetheless, we remain committed to our mission of assist in the economic regeneration of the greater Bradford area by bringing international innovators and investment to the intended cutting-edge facility at our Milnerfield site,” Mr Beal said.

The committee meets at Bradford City Hall on May 15 from 10am.