THE site of a church that was demolished after a fierce blaze last year could soon be re-developed as housing.

In January 2018 a fire broke out in the derelict Unitarian Church building on Broadway Avenue, Little Horton.

It left the building badly damaged, and it was flattened as a safety measure shortly after the site had been secured.

Now a new planning application to build five three-storey houses on the site, which remains empty, has been submitted to Bradford Council.

The development would comprise three five-bedroom homes, a three-bedroom home and a two-bedroom home. There would also be nine parking spaces.

Similar plans to develop the site, by demolishing the church and replacing it with five houses, were approved in 2016. But work never started, and the permission expired late last year.

The site is surrounded on all sides by housing.

The church was originally built in 1906 as a “temporary” home for one of the city’s two Unitarian Church congregations. But the congregation remained in the building for 100 years before selling the building and becoming part of the Bradford Unitarians - which meets in Russell Street.

After the church shut, the building became decrepit and the land around it became a target for fly-tipping.

When the first application to build housing was approved, planning officers described the site as being “in a state of disrepair”.

The fire is thought to have been started when someone lit rubbish that had been dumped on the site.

In the new application, the owner of the site, Nadeem Butt, said: “Every effort has been made in this proposal to meet the planning policies of the Council.

“It is of upmost importance for developments to match and complement the wider properties in the area.”

A decision on the latest application is expected in June.