BRADFORD Council will allow a key city centre development site to be used as a car park, as planners say it is unlikely any other development will start there within the next seven years.

The council’s area action plan has earmarked the site of the former British Gas depot on Holdsworth Street for hundreds of homes – with the intent that it forms a major part of the city centre’s regeneration over the next 15 years.

But planning officers have now approved a much less grand use for the site, as a temporary car park.

Car Parking Management Ltd has been granted planning permission to turn the land into a pay-and-display car park for 250 vehicles.

The the land is one of the largest vacant sites in the city centre, and is just a short distance from both The Broadway shopping centre and Forster Square Railway Station.

The council maintains that the site will still play a key role in the city’s regeneration, although they say it will be 2025 at the earliest before any work is likely to start.

The area is included in the council’s City Centre Area Action Plan, and forms part of an area earmarked for up to 600 homes.

The land was once the subject of one of the boldest regeneration schemes in the district. In 2005 a plan to create a new canal basin, around 1,800 flats, a hotel, offices, shops, restaurants and leisure space on the land was revealed.

Dubbed Bradford Channel, the £350m scheme was stalled in 2008 due to the economic recession, and the land has remained empty ever since.

Approving the scheme, planning officers said: “The proposed use clearly conflicts with the aims and objectives of the area action plan, which identifies that 3,500 dwellings are to be provided within the city centre, which is a notable portion of the district’s housing targets.

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“That said, the nature of the proposal means it is unlikely to compromise the future development of the site, particularly if it is only granted on a temporary basis.

“The Area Action Plan itself identifies that the estimated delivery on development of the site is long term, which is indicated at 2025-2030. It would also be unlikely that as the use involves no development that it would prevent the development of the site at an earlier date if a proposal was forthcoming.”

One of the conditions imposed on the applicants is that the car park must close by the end of 2024 to free up the site for the housing.