A BID to make Haworth's closed fire station building an Asset of Community Value has been given the green light by Bradford councillors.

The application, which had been submitted by Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council, was approved by the Keighley Area Committee against a recommendation from Mike Cowlam, the council's strategic director of regeneration, that the application should be refused.

He said the Government legislation states Asset of Community Value status applies to buildings which "further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community" and the former fire station did not meet these criteria.

But committee members overturned his recommendation and voted in favour of the application.

Welcoming the decision, Councillor John Huxley, chairman of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council, said: "We would rather not have had to seek a listing, but the council felt that it needed to secure a position to have a stake in the fire station's future.

"We have supported the Friends of Haworth & Worth Valley Fire Station in their plan to use the fire station as an community-run emergency services hub for the whole of the Worth Valley.

"We still believe that this is the best option for the future security of residents and businesses in the area."

Cllr Huxley, who has campaigned for three years to try to save the facility, said the community asset listing ensured that West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority now has to give the community six weeks notice if it intends to make the building available for sale.

It would also need to allow six months for the parish council or another community group to come up with a bid to buy the building.

Haworth resident Steve Thorpe, chairman of the Friends of Haworth and Worth Valley Fire Station, said the decision would give his group more of a chance to succeed with its own offer to buy the property.

He and his colleagues have already offered an undisclosed sum to the fire service but are waiting for a response.

Mr Thorpe said: "It's just good to know the fire station can't be sold without us knowing about it, and we've got more time to try and buy it ourselves.

"Hopefully they will understand that selling it to us would be the best possible outcome.

"We have a brilliant project and we're ready to go ahead with it. It's just the fire service we're waiting for."

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has previously described the bid to make the building an Asset of Community Value as "inappropriate".

It emphasised that a successful application could still not compel it to sell the building to a local community group, or sell it for a price below market value.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Dave Walton said: “We are aware of the decision made by the Bradford Council Keighley Area Committee.

"We will consider the implications of this decision in respect of the plans to dispose of the former fire station site following its closure in 2014.”