PLANS to turn part of a former bathroom factory in Bradford into an indoor football centre look set to be approved, despite 250 people signing a petition in protest against the project.

Members of the Bradford Area Planning Panel, which meets at City Hall on Wednesday, have been advised to grant permission for five indoor football pitches within the former Shires Ltd building in Beckside Road, Lidget Green.

A similar application was refused in May last year - with the subsequent appeal also dismissed in September - on highway safety grounds.

In a statement supporting the proposal, agents at Khawaja Architectural Services, based in Apperley Bridge, state that the previous application was turned down due to the "conflicting traffic and pedestrian movements" at the site, with a particular risk highlighted to children.

It claims this risk has now been eradicated due to the demolition of an office block at the front of the site, which has created more parking spaces for those using the proposed football centre.

It states that heavy vehicle movements to different parts of the factory, which is used for warehousing and manufacturing purposes, will now be "completely separate", and there will be no need for those using the pitches to go on those parts of the site.

The proposal states the five pitches would use 4,311sqm of the vacant floorspace - 17 per cent of the building's 25,000sqm capacity - with 60 dedicated car parking spaces opposite the entrance.

A report to planning panel members says that concerns raised by the Planning Inspectorate in turning down the appeal against the previous application have been addressed by the new plans.

It reads: "There is now a defined pedestrian route to the unit that will protect pedestrians from site traffic, and access to other parts of the building would not be adversely affected whilst allowing traffic flow to be maintained.

"No significant highway safety implications will occur, particularly as traffic generation is unlikely to be greater than that already occurring at the site to serve the commercial and manufacturing uses within the building."

Planning officers have recommended that the plans be approved subject to certain conditions, including a restriction in business operating hours from 8am to 11pm.

Councillor Nazam Azam (Lab, City), had asked for the matter to be referred to the Bradford Area Planning Panel due to the concerns of residents.

"There are genuine concerns over highway safety, and also over the site attracting anti-social behaviour," he said.

"The congestion that builds up in that area on an evening and at weekends, the only word to describe it is pathetic.

"It is also a walking route to local schools and madrassas.

"I am not against the building being put to some use, we don't want it to be derelict, but it needs to be appropriate use."

The site had also previously been home to the Tradex Bazaar, which was run without planning permission and led to significant fines for the businessmen involved in 2013.