THE final blow has fallen upon a major international firm's plans to build offices on Ilkley green belt land.

Bradford Council's Regulatory and Appeals Committee has backed up Keighley Area planners and local planning officers by rejecting The NG Bailey Organisation's plan for new offices, car parking, landscaping and a caretaker's house at Coutances Way, on one of the main A65 entrances to Ilkley.

The site is currently occupied by a caravan showroom and small business units, plus a derelict former filling station.

Planners were initially keen to see the site developed and gave NG Baileys extra time to amend plans and come up with the legally required 'very special circumstances' to justify building on the green belt - but have since said these requirements have not be established.

Keighley Area Plans Panel recently recommended the rejection of the plan, but as a green belt development plan, the final decision had to be made by the Regulatory and Appeals Committee.

Ilkley-based Bradford Council planning officer Martyn Burke, who was at the meeting, said that the newly-confirmed Bradford Unitary Development Plan (UDP) reinforced the sensitive green belt status of the site, and this was taken into account by councillors.

He said planners were not convinced that the Coutances Way site was the only suitable site in the area for industrial development, as areas such as land at Ashlands Industrial Estate in Ilkley should be used before green belt land was considered.

NG Baileys was not represented at Friday's meeting.

The NG Bailey organisation already occupies two major buildings in Ilkley, the Edward Lutyens-designed Heathcote, on Kings Road, and Denton Hall. The firm is one of the UK's largest independent firms, managing contracting, maintenance, telecommunications and manufacturing operations, with annual sales exceeding £400 million.