PLANS for a cinema and restaurants at a proposed Keighley town centre shopping complex have been scrapped.

The company behind the latest project for the derelict East Parade site have included only a drive-through food outlet alongside the planned shops.

The newly-unveiled Aire Valley Retail Park would also have most of its eight units on the River Worth side of the site with only one fronting onto East Parade.

Details of the plans – which emerged this week on commercial property websites – have been greeted with dismay by Keighley’s business community and a local councillor.

They fear the retail car park will suck customers out of the town centre rather than complementing existing shops and encouraging people to stay in town longer.

The new project, spearheaded by developers UandI, would offer 56,000 ft.² of retail space and 205 car parking spaces, with eight units rather than the 14 proposed for the now-abandoned Worth Valley Shopping Centre.

Acting on behalf of the owners, Leeds-based WSB Property Consultants are now actively marketing the project to potential tenants with artists’ impressions and a ground layout.

The drive-through is already under offer, and the other seven units, ranging from 1,200 to 11,000 square feet, are available to let.

The company said: “A new planning application will be submitted shortly for the proposed scheme. We envisage planning will be granted at the end of 2017.”

The original Worth Valley Shopping Centre scheme – which gained planning permission five years ago – would have offered 165,000 ft.² of floor space, a nine screen Cineworld, and three restaurants including Frankie and Benny’s.

Councillor Andrew Mallinson, a member of Bradford Council’s regeneration scrutiny committee, said the site should have good-quality leisure facilities alongside shops.

He said: “What is proposed is completely lacking in forward-thinking and imagination. Keighley deserves better. How many takeaways and drive-throughs does Keighley need?

“None of this is going to attract people to Keighley and keep them there. It needs something on the East Parade frontage, so visitors coming to town by bus or rail see more than just a big car park.”

Graham Benn, chairman of the Keighley Business Improvement District (BID), said he was very disappointed to lose the cinema and restaurants.

He said: “We were looking for a shopping centre, not another out-of-town retail park. People won’t bother wandering into town to the existing shops.”

Steve Seymour, a leading BID member and manager of the nearby Airedale Shopping Centre, said the original Worth Valley Shopping Centre, with planned leisure facilities, could have complemented existing shops.

He added: “We don’t have big restaurants in Keighley. We have a small cinema but not a large multiplex. We know there are people living in Keighley who travel to use leisure facilities in other towns.

“This development is not good because it takes away the footfall from the town centre. There is no pedestrian link to the core retail in Keighley.”