The first official step towards creating a major regeneration project in a Bradford village is expected to get the green light next week.

An outline planning application for the Cottingley Cornerstone Centre project has been recommended for approval by planning officers.

If passed, the scheme, expected to cost around £3 million, would see community buildings demolished at the Littlelands site and replaced with state-of-the-art facilities.

The urban regeneration scheme, thought to be the first of its type in the Bradford district, would provide a large multi-use hall, meeting rooms, a computer suite, an advice centre, a doctor's surgery, a pre-school nursery and day care for residents.

St Michael's and All Angels Church, which was demolished in 2003 after being condemned as a dangerous building, would be replaced.

And 42 houses and eight flats, some of which would be marketed as affordable housing, would also be built.

As previously reported in the Telegraph & Argus the ambitious plans have received ongoing support from Prince Charles. The Prince has hailed the scheme as "a beacon of hope to the community" and he has made a personal, undisclosed, donation to help fund the plans.

The Prince has been following the project's progress since he visited the village to rededicate a war memorial in 2002.

A Bradford Council report on the application, which will be discussed at a meeting of Shipley area planning panel at Shipley Town Hall on Thursday, supports the application. It states the scheme would give "a new heart to the village". Thirty-three letters have been submitted to Bradford Council in connection with the scheme, with 28 in support of the proposals. A letter from Prince Charles has also been submitted with the application.

Those against the plans have raised concerns about a lack of parking, new homes overshadowing existing properties and increased traffic and noise.

The report states that at this stage only the siting and access are being applied for, with final designs and materials to be submitted at a later date.

The report concludes: "It is an imaginative and well-designed scheme, born out of the needs of the community and the Council, and notwithstanding the parking issue, is one that meets not only the Council's vision but also accords with Unitary Development Policy policies."

The church's vicar, the Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington, said: "We are all hopeful that the Cottingley Cornerstone Centre project planning application will be approved by the planning panel next week and if passed it will be a landmark step to the centre becoming a reality.''