A NATIONAL retail chain has been granted permission to install new signs on "one of Bradford's best surviving textile mill complexes."

Toolstation has announced plans to install signage on a unit at Whetley Mill, off Thornton Road, in preparation for the opening of a new store.

The unit is currently empty, but was recently used as a Home Stock furniture store.

Heritage officers had initially raised concerns about the site of the signs, saying they would be "unduly prominent" on the mill - which dates back to the 19th Century.

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The applicants amended their plans - changes which gained support of Bradford Council. A report by planning officers said: "the amount of signs have been reduced and the proposal no longer creates visual clutter to the building."

Toolstation has yet to announce a date for the new store opening.

Bradford Council's heritage officer Jon Ackroyd had described Whetley Mill as "one of the best surviving textile mill complexes in the District."

He added: "It is architecturally distinguished being the work of Milnes and France, one of the eminent practices in the town in the 19th century.

"It also illustrates well the different components of an integrated textile mill, built to undertake the various processes, and the evolution of a large mill complex."