AMBITIOUS plans to transform a derelict building into a new fish restaurant have been given the go ahead following a successful appeal.

Proposals for the Station Master’s House, on the junction of Wellington Street and Park Road in Bingley, were halted by Bradford Council’s Keighley and Shipley planning panel back in February.

Officers had recommended the plans, submitted jointly by Bingley Property Holdings and Matt and Jo Hogg, who own the Old Brown Cow pub in Bingley, be approved, but councillors went against the recommendations.

Bingley Town Council objected to the plan when it was first submitted, citing a lack of adequate parking, concerns about waste management and increased littering as reasons it should be refused.

Concerns were also raised about the number of fast food restaurants in the town already.

The decision on the building, which has stood empty since the 1990s, was branded “idiotic” and “nonsensical” by a local historian and an appeal was lodged in a bid to overturn to the ruling.

Now, the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to uphold the appeal and grant planning permission has seemingly brought an end to the months-long wrangle.

Inspector Jillian Rann said the development “would not have a

significant adverse effect on the free and safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians in the vicinity of the premises”.

Her report highlighted a number of parking options available and she wrote: “As the site is immediately adjacent to the railway station, and close to numerous town centre bus stops, some customers may also visit the premises by public transport.

"This may apply more to restaurant customers, whose visits are likely to be of longer duration than those collecting take-away orders.

“However, in any event, on the basis of the evidence before me and my own observations, I consider that the town centre’s numerous nearby car parking areas would have sufficient capacity to accommodate the parking requirements of this relatively small-scale commercial use.”

The inspector said parking restrictions along the site’s road frontages would prevent delivery vehicles from parking immediately adjacent to the site and there was “little reason to believe that the size of delivery vehicles associated with the premises could not be accommodated by existing areas of parking provision close to the site".

The report adds: “The proposal would bring a vacant building in the town centre into use and, on the basis of the evidence before me, I have no reason to believe that the development would not contribute to the vitality and viability of the town centre.”