A BRADFORD ice cream parlour which has been operating without the correct permission for months has had its latest appeal dismissed.

In August, Mahboob Hussain saw his application for the change of use to allow a cafe to be run from his premises at 725 Leeds Road turned down by planners at Bradford Council.

The premises, which only has permission to be used as a shop, has been operating as ice cream parlour IceStone Gelato for around a year.

A number of applications had already been refused, primarily due to concerns about a lack of sufficient parking, but this one sought to divide the premises into two - a shop and an ice cream parlour.

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However government planning inspector George Mapson has reiterated similar concerns over there being only eight parking spaces out front.

Agent Trevor Hobday confirmed to the Telegraph & Argus, that Mr Hussain was now looking at neighbouring car parking facilities to see if any arrangements could be made.

In his report Mr Mapson explained his decision, saying: "The forecourt of the appeal premises has room for only eight car parking spaces. This was considered adequate for the two shop units that were approved in 2013, but the advice of the highway office is that it is inadequate for a shop and ice cream parlour.

"This is partly because the duration of customer parking is greater with an ice cream parlour. Whilst car borne visitors to shop units are likely to stay for relatively short periods, those visiting an ice cream parlour are likely to stay much longer, and therefore occupy on-site parking spaces for longer."

He added that the inadequate level of parking for both a shop and ice cream parlour was likely to lead to and increase in on-street parking on the busy road, even though there were double yellow restrictions immediately outside the premises

Mr Hobday confirmed that IceStone, which has a branch at Great Horton Road, and another in Birmingham, with plans to open more in Huddersfield, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, was hoping to overcome the parking issue in an effort to gain the permission required for the premises.

He said: "The issue is that we didn't get planning permission for the change of use - it failed on the single issue of car parking. The inspector's view was that it would cause a problem with highway traffic, but my client is going to see if he can overcome the parking issue, possibly by talking to one or two of this neighbours."

As well as the appeal over change of use being dismissed, enforcement action against roller shutters, canopies and cladding was upheld, meaning Mr Hussain has six months to remove them.

The council also issued an enforcement notice back in June over the unauthorised use of the premises as a cafe.

A spokesman for the council said: “Now the appeal decisions have been received, Bradford Council will be undertaking further investigations before a decision about further action is taken.”