The Environment Agency is investigating whether an unlicenced breakers’ yard is being run from a former pub in Bradford.

Officers have visited the site, the old Reservoir pub in Allerton Road, to investigate claims it was being used for vehicle dismantling without the correct licences and permits.

They were responding to concerns raised by nearby residents who have also contacted their ward councillors.

The agency said it appeared the site did not hold four separate documents required by anyone running a vehicle breakers’ yard.

A spokesman said: “Environment Agency officers are currently carrying out an investigation into activities at this site.

“The business has no record of holding a waste permit, no exemptions for end-of-life vehicles, no waste carriers’ licence and no hazardous waste producers’ licence.

“These permits and licences are required to ensure that a business operates legitimately and with minimum impact on the environment."

Ward Councillor Carol Thirkill (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) said she had also alerted the Council’s planning enforcement and highways officers.

She said: “The site looks an eyesore. There's been about 20 cars there being broken up and they’ve created their own access on to the back of where the pub is, off Rhodesway, driving into it right over the kerbs.

“It’s close to a bad bend and could cause an accident. We want them stopped.”

She added: “It’s a residential area not an industrial or brown fieldsite.”

Coun Thirkill said she reported the matter to Bradford Council officials a week before the start of Easter and has asked to be kept informed of progress.

Fellow ward Councillor Michelle Swallow (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) said as well as mud on the road and fencing being broken down for people to get on to the site, she had also been worried about the damage any oil seepage could have on wetlands at the lower end of the car park.

“It’s a designated protected area, any oil getting in there could be devastating,” she said.

No-one was at the site to respond to the complaints when the Telegraph & Argus visited.

l Anyone who has information about or suspects people of illegal waste activity should call the Environment Agency's incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 to report it. Calls are taken in confidence and information can be shared anonymously.