BRADFORD Council has been criticised for failing to record why it allowed a pub to be turned into a mosque, despite expert advice to block the conversion.

Bradford Council's Bradford Planning Panel approved an application to turn the former Royal Hotel on Fagley Road into a place of worship, the Sayyidah-Aminah Jamia Masjid mosque, in March 2013.

But following a complaint by a resident, a local government Ombudsman was called in to investigate the decision. The council has now been criticised for how the decision was recorded and ordered to apologise to the complainant.

The ombudsman's report points out that when members of the committee were interviewed about their decision, they gave several different reasons why they chose to approve the application, some of which were irrelevant.

Submitted by Saleem Akhtar, the application went before the committee on March 23, 2013. There had been numerous objections, including a 32-name petition. Planning officers recommended refusal, saying the mosque would be "prejudicial to the amenity of neighbouring residents by reason of noise and general disturbance."

But the panel dismissed these claims, and in their approval said: "The change of use is considered acceptable."

The Ombudsman's report says this was too vague: "The council failed to provide reasons for granting planning permission. This is fault.

"Although the council has said the development is acceptable, it has not given the reasons why it has come to these conclusions. It is not simply enough to say the development complies with policies and is acceptable.

"When I interviewed members of the planning committee, many were unable to remember why they granted planning permission. I was given several different reasons why permission was granted. Some were not material planning considerations."

It says one member told the ombudsman they approved the mosque because "it would not cause as much disturbance as a takeaway" and another said the mosque "has a positive impact on the community, whereas a pub does not."

However, the Ombudsman does conclude that even if the panel had followed procedure, there was still a possibility planning permission would have been granted.

As well as apologising to the complainant, left anonymous in the report, the council will have to make sure that in future the reasons for approving applications are recorded.

The committee that made the decision was chaired by Councillor Shabir Hussain and included Labour cllrs Sarah Ferriby, Shakeela Lal, and Alan Wainwright, Conservative cllrs Malcolm Sykes, and Valerie Binney, and Lib Dem cllr Howard Middleton.

Cllr Sykes said he understood the complaint, but felt it was just a technicality rather than a major problem. He said: "The issue the ombudsman has raised is that the decision wasn't adequately recorded. There has been a recommendation members should be further trained, but there was a legal advisor at the meeting who should have flagged this up."