One of Keighley’s biggest eyesores will undergo a major transformation after Bradford Council gave the go-ahead for it to become a permanent car sales showroom. The Damside multi-storey car park, off Oakworth Road, has stood empty for over a decade.

In that time the five-storey building has become a popular spot for anti-social behaviour and drug taking.

Now its owners, Damside Management, has been given permission by Bradford Council to turn it into a permanent car sales business, selling high-end cars from firms such as Ferrari and Bentley.

The company has owned the building for several years, and in 2011 it was given permission to turn it into a car sales and valet business.

But with Bradford Council eyeing up that area of Keighley as a “Town Centre Expansion Area” a possible site for new shops and leisure uses, it only granted temporary permission, leaving the site free for future developers.

This short-term permission prevented Damside from investing in the building, and earlier this year it applied for permission to run the business there permanently.

It claimed it would be willing to invest almost £1 million in improving the “stark concrete structure,” and its surrounding area.

The Council has now granted the application after admitting the area was unlikely to be subject to regeneration projects or new shopping developments anytime soon.

Damside had told the Council that if given permanent permission the business would create up to 25 new jobs and “turn this building from a white elephant to an iconic example of regeneration”.

Councillor Abid Hussain (Lab, Keighley Central) said: “It is a great boost for Keighley if someone is spending £1 million in that area. If there was no investment we would be stuck with a white elephant in the middle of the town. The building has been empty for a long time.”

Councillor Kaneez Akthar (Lab, Keighley Central) said: “I’m very happy to see this disused area come back into some form of use.

“It had been empty for so long people had started using it to take drugs.”