New Victoria Place scheme could be changed (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

New Victoria Place scheme could be changed

11:08am Monday 2nd March 2009 in

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The applicants behind plans to transform the site of Bradford’s former Odeon cinema look set to revise their scheme, it has been revealed.

The developer, Langtree Artisan, and the landowner, Yorkshire Forward, say they are “considering some revisions” in the light of comments made during the consultation process.

Very few details have been revealed about the possible changes to the £55 million New Victoria Place scheme, but the office building within the proposed development is likely to be the main focus of the revisions.

As it stands, the proposal would involve the demolition of the existing 1930s building and the creation of the city centre’s first Grade A offices, a new hotel, apartments, bars, restaurants and cafes, all centred around a vibrant public square.

A spokesman for the applicants said: “The planning application for New Victoria Place has not been withdrawn. Revisions to major planning applications are usual during the course of the planning process. The development proposed will remain fundamentally the same. However, the applicants are considering some revisions, particularly to the office building to take on board comments made by the statutory consultees.”

The Theatres Trust and English Heritage are among those who have expressed their opposition to the New Victoria Place plans.

The latest news appears to cast serious doubt over the proposed timescale .

When the current application was submitted last October, bosses at Langtree Artisan said they were hopeful of gaining planning permission by spring 2009, allowing a five-year building programme to begin in 2010.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: “The current application remains as submitted. The plans haven’t been withdrawn, nor discontinued and we have not received a fresh application.”

When asked if revisions to the application would trigger a fresh consultation process, the Council spokesman said: “The formal re-advertising and consultation of the application would depend on the scale of changes.”

The possibility of a revised application came to light when the Ombudsman’s office discontinued its investigation into an official complaint over a document relating to the Odeon’s demolition, which was issued to councillors by Bradford Council’s strategic director of regeneration.

Last month, Nicholas Bielby, of Frizinghall, complained that ‘Document Y’, a report issued to the Regulatory and Appeals Committee on October 29, 2008, was “deeply flawed and seriously misleading.”

In a letter to Mr Bielby, Paul O’Neill, investigator for the Ombudsman’s office, said: “The Council has recently informed me the developer is re-submitting a planning application and this will not be received until at least April.

"When this new application is received, the Council will re-advertise the matter and local residents will be given another opportunity to submit their comments/objections for this development.”