A FRESH application has been submitted to turn part of an old car showroom into a dessert parlour.

It's the latest development in a planning wrangle which saw the proposals thrown out last month. Sajid Sadiq had planned to turn part of the former Colin Appleyard car showroom on Otley Road, Shipley, into a dessert parlour.

The building has been empty since the car company re-located to Canal Road.

The application went before Bradford Council's Keighley and Shipley Area Planning Panel back in June, but members were divided on the proposals.

Highways officers had said the building was based on a busy road.

Although the car showroom had parking for six cars in front of it, this was mainly for the display of cars, not for customer parking.

They feared that the high turnover of customers likely to be visiting the business would lead to traffic issues - in particular motorists using a dropped kerb in front of the building to drive onto the pavement, park up, and visit the business.

While Mr Sadiq had agreed to build a wall around the showroom to prevent cars parking in front of the business, he drew the line when asked to pay to raise the kerb.

He told the Telegraph & Argus that he did not think it should be responsibility of a private business to deal with an existing highways problem.

Ahead of the meeting, Bradford Council said potential impacts on nearby roads have to be taken into account.

“Parking demands for a dessert parlour are clearly very different to that of a car showroom," a spokesperson said.

“The original kerbs were designed to allow cars to drive in and out of the car business. Officers believe that leaving the dropped kerbs in place would encourage cars to park on the pavement. In the interests of highways safety, officers have asked the applicant to install full kerbs to discourage illegal parking."

At the meeting, Councillor Gerry Barker (Con, Wharfedale) said illegal parking should not be encourage to continue, but the Chair, Councillor Sinead Engel (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) said she did not think it was fair that a new business should "take a financial hit to pay to fix something that is nothing to do with them".

When it came to the vote four out of the seven members of the panel voted to back officers and refuse the plans. Mr Sadiq has now agreed to raise the kerb.

The new application says: "This site has gone in for a previous application. It was submitted in March and then refused in May on the grounds of highway safety.

"We have complied with the notes attached to the refusal to allow this application to be approved. We trust that this change of use application will receive the support from the local planning authority as it is does not contravene planning policy and is a sustainable approach in terms of reusing an existing building."