A PLANNING committee has said "enough is enough" when it comes to retrospective planning applications.

Members of the Bradford Area Planning Panel claimed too many people were carrying out inappropriate changes to buildings in the city, then expecting Bradford Council to approve the developments after they had already started.

The claims came as Councillors criticised the team behind unauthorised changes to an Edwardian terrace house on Pemberton Drive. The house is in the Little Horton Conservation Area.

Much of the roof of 22 and 20 Pemberton Drive had been re-built following a fire, and the owners then worked on restoring the building.

Applicant Maria Jan had said due to time constraints, and the need to make the building secure, work started before any plans or designs were considered.

At a meeting of the panel on Wednesday, councillors were to decide whether to allow her to retain the front and rear dormers added to the building, which were a major departure from what the house originally looked like.

She was at the meeting with the builder behind the changes, Mr Mohammed. They told the panel that they had spent a large amount on the changes to the building, and it had brought a building in an area blighted by anti social behaviour back into use.

But members took a dim view of the unauthorised changes.

Chair Councillor Shabir Hussain (Lab Manningham) chastised the applicant and builder, saying: "You should have known not to put that roof on. You are a builder, you should know better than that. It's your fault we are here discussing this.

"Retrospective applications need to be done properly. You may have spent lots of money on this, but you knew exactly what you were building.

"I live in a Conservation area, I love these old houses. I'm sorry but bad applications like this give Bradford a bad name.

Councillor Alan Wainwright (Lab, Tong), said: "You had to replace this roof, but you should have replaced it how it originally looked. You should be able to read plans and replicate them."

Councillor Mohammed Amran (Lab, Heaton) said: "That looks disgraceful. You made a mistake, you should take responsibility for it. Get it pulled down and make it look like it should."

Councillor Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor), said: "We have to maintain planning laws, they are there for a reason. It is to conserve the area.

"We have to set the record straight. We have to say enough is enough. We need to send a message out that we won't accept things like this."

The panel then refused the plans.

At the same meeting, four other retrospective planning applications were refused by councillors.