PLANS to paint double yellow lines on a busy road in Greengates have been delayed over fears it could lead to a church hall closing down.

Bradford Council had planned to place "no waiting at any time" restrictions on a small stretch of Harrogate Road. The measures were a condition of a planning application for a 130 house estate, which was approved in 2015, and involve a new road leading out from the under construction estate onto Harrogate Road.

But the seemingly minor planned road safety measures, which the council said will "ensure the safe through passage of traffic" on the road once the new houses are occupied, attracted 78 objections. Most said the changes would lead to parking spaces on the road being lost, and this would badly affect visitors to nearby St Johns Church and its parish hall, used by numerous community groups.

The objections were raised at a meeting of the Council's Bradford East Area Committee held last night.

Members were told that around 300 people regularly used the hall, and that objectors feared that if the on street parking spaces were lost, the future of this facility would be in doubt.

Objectors also felt that the proposals didn't link up with future plans to improve the Harrogate Road/New Line Junction, which could lead to more on street parking spaces being lost.

Mike Frazer, one of the objectors, told the meeting: "I want highways to come up with a solution to this problem. If there isn't one the community centre will close. People who use it are not going to be able to park if these double yellows come in."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland also spoke on behalf of residents, saying: "I don't normally bother talking about traffic regulation orders, I think it is best left to professionals, but in this case they can't possibly know how it will impact on the community. This hall is the only community facility in the area. Can highways come back to this with some different options? If people can't park there any more it may lead the community centre closing. I accept traffic at the junction needs to be improved, but a community facility shouldn't need to shut to do this."

Councillor David Ward added: "The residents are facing a double whammy of all these new houses and now this threat against their community facility. People raised issues about this housing development, and it was still approved. How many times have we seen an application go through with councillors saying 'this will be a problem?'

"The plans go through anyway and we as councillors have to deal with the problems they cause. We have to say to residents "we told them this would happen.'"

The committee decided to postpone any work to install double yellow lines until possible alternative solutions could be found. They will receive an update on the situation in three months.