Permanent caravan storage plan refused to protect "key" employment site in Wyke

However, officers have admitted there are currently no specific plans for the site.

In 2011 planning permission was granted to turn a vacant indstrial site, Wyke Mills, into a caravan storage area. However, the Council added a condition that this use would have to end in July 2019, as the land may be needed as a key employment site.

A recent planning application by G Peel called for the Council to remove the condition that limited this use to an eight year period.

It points out that in the past 12 years of the site being marketed for employment use, there has not been any businesses coming forward with plans for the land.

The application says: “In preventing the applicant having certainty over the use of the land into the future, the Local Planning Authority are also preventing the applicant from making sound commercial decisions based on his relationship with the landlord and the prevailing commercial situation.

“This is well beyond the remit of the LPA in a situation where they openly admit that they do not know whether the site will be required in the future or not.”

In refusing the application, a planning officer said: “The problem is, firstly, that it is simply not known at this stage whether the site will be required for employment use.

“In planning terms, it is within a desirable area for industry, but much work remains before it can be said with any certainty whether or not the site will be needed in order to meet the district’s employment land target.

“Consequently, permanent planning permission cannot be given until such time as land requirements are clarified.

“The Local Planning Authority is not prepared to grant a permanent permission in view of the allocation of the site as an employment site, since this would potentially prejudice use of the site for employment uses.

“That said, a further temporary extension may be a solution that would allow the proposal to be approved.”