Village leaders have been left stony-faced by building work at the front of a historic landmark.

Yorkshire stone went missing last autumn from the Mechanics Institute in Main Road, Denholme.

But Bradford Council workmen have replaced it with concrete slabs instead of similar traditional stone.

And community leaders say the building now looks completely out of keeping with the rest of the village's historic centre.

Bradford Councillor Simon Cooke (Con, Bingley Rural) said: "What they've done is that they've moved some of the stone that was in less prominent places around the sides to the front where it was missing and then used concrete slabs to replace that.

"It's another example of Denholme being treated like second-class citizens.

"If it was in the centre of Bradford or if it was in Saltaire that this had happened they wouldn't get away with concrete slabs."

But the Council says the missing masonry has been replaced with concrete to reduce the chances of further thefts.

"It's not acceptable that the Council should be doing this on a building that is an important focus of village life because otherwise it gets tatty and sends the wrong signals to people," added Coun Cooke.

The alleged theft happened during a spate of disappearances of stone from the Bingley area.

And Denholme Town Councillor Barbara Rayner is upset at the appearance of the Mechanics Institute, which dates back to 1880 and houses meetings of the town council as well as currently acting as a place of worship for St Paul's Church.

She said: "All the surrounding area is stone and then you've got these bright, white blocks which stand out like a sore thumb."

A spokesman for Bradford Council's recreation division said: "Due to a number of thefts of Yorkshire stone flag and coping stones from the front of the Mechanics Institute and additional incidents in the area we have decided not to replace all the missing stone with Yorkshire stone.

"To maintain the traditional look of the institute's frontage we have moved some Yorkshire stone from its sides to replace that stolen from the front. Unfortunately, we have had to use concrete stones at the sides but we hope people will understand our reasons for this."

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