A CAR park planned for an overgrown site in Shipley town centre would be “hazardous” to road users and pedestrians, according to highways officers.

A planning application to build a 45 space car park on the site of the former Glenroyal Cinema has this week been refused by Bradford Council.

Submitted by H & Q Shipley Limited, the plans would have seen an existing empty nightclub building next the site demolished. The car park would then be built on the newly formed larger plot, between Briggate and the Leeds Liverpool Canal at a junction known locally as Fox Corner.

Access to the car park would be from Briggate.

The Glenroyal Cinema, which was built in the 1930s, was demolished in 2013 after being declared unsafe following a major fire.

The site, next to a bus stop, has since become badly overgrown with vegetation.

The plans were refused, with highways officers saying: “The proposed site access is adjacent to a bus stop and layby and therefore turning manoeuvres in to and out of the site particularly right turning manoeuvres would result in conflicts with buses manoeuvring out of the bus layby. There would also be conflicts with pedestrians.

"The proposed development would result in an unacceptable increase in the risk faced by highway users and therefore cannot be supported in highway terms.”

Planning officers said there were few details of whether the car park would be long or short stay, and how the parking would be enforced. They added: "The layout and position of the site gives rise to concerns over the safety of the users of the car park.

"Although Briggate is a busy thoroughfare, it is mostly lined with commercial businesses with little natural footfall and surveillance at this point, other than say for members of the public waiting at the adjacent bus stop."