A CARAVAN storage company is appealing against Bradford Council's decision to block it from using its current base on a permanent basis.

In 2011 planning permission was granted to turn a vacant industrial site, Wyke Mills off Huddersfield Road, into a caravan storage area, but 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" in the future.

Earlier this year G Peel submitted a planning application to the Council to remove the condition that limited this use to an eight year period. In August planning officers refused the application, saying it was "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." However, they admitted there were no specific plans for the site.

Now the applicants have lodged an appeal against that decision with the Secretary of State, meaning a government inspector will decide on the site's future.

The appeal says the Council decision "makes any commercial decision far more difficult than it should be. This is well beyond the remit of the Council in a situation where they openly admit that they do not know whether the site will be required in the future or not."