PENSIONERS’ flats could be built on the disused former site of Ivy Bank Mill in Haworth.

The latest planning application to be submitted for the site above Bridgehouse Beck suggests building up to 30 ‘elderly living apartments’. It also proposes up to 40 other homes on the land, either alongside or instead of the retirement homes.

The planning application is the tenth for the site in the past decade, with previous proposals ranging from converting the mill into 66 homes to demolishing mill buildings to make way for new houses.

The wooded site off Bridgehouse Lane lies between unadopted Ivy Bank Lane – which would provide the entrance – and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. The original mill, built in the late 19th century, fell into a poor state of repair and in 2013 Bradford Council gave permission for its demolition. The site is in the Haworth Conservation Area.

Applicants KM Norris say the site gained permission in 2011 for 54 two, three and four-bedroom houses, but since then had not attracted a developer.

They state: “The site has sat vacant for a number of years, a liability for both the landowner and Haworth. This application will open a new chapter for the site and deliver a flexible, market-facing consent which will allow development to take place.”

The applicant says retaining walls would be kept, along with the dense tree cover to the south and important trees to the east. A pond at the south-east end of the site could be turned into public open space, with interpretation boards describing the history of the site and Haworth.

The applicants have submitted two options with the planning application. One is for a two-storey care home with 30 flats, accompanied by 20 houses, while the other would have up to 40 detached, terraced and semi-detached houses.

District councillor Rebecca Paulsen, who lives on Ivy Bank Lane, said it was difficult to assess the potential impact of the housing plans because they were still at outline stage.

She said: “I think the site probably should be developed because it’s brownfield rather than going out into the green belt, but it has to be the right development.

“One of the biggest issues is always access to the site. Ivy Bank Lane is single-track.”