PLANS to build a seven storey apartment building on the outskirts of Bradford city centre have been approved.

The application for a 72 flat building was first submitted to Bradford Council over two years ago, but has only been approved this month.

The building will be built in the car park of another apartment building - the former Joseph Brennan House, which is part used as student accommodation and part used as a guest house.

The application says the car park to Joseph Brennan House, is currently under used, and building on much of it would be better use for a site so close to the city centre.

When completed, the building, off Vaughan Street, will be called Shaftesbury Suites and will be a mix of 66 studio flats and six two-bed apartments.

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Highways officers had initially raised concerns about the loss of parking spaces and the increased traffic the development would bring.

But after new documents, including a new car parking plan, were submitted late last year the application has now been approved.

Submitted by Rashid Moghul in January 2018, the application describes this area of Sunbridge Road as a “zone of repair” and claims the apartment building will help bring more “life and activity” to the area.

In recent years this area of the city has been blighted by decline.

Several other buildings that were once office blocks for major businesses have been converted into flats.

The planning application for this latest building says of the existing car park site: “The restricted provision of car parking associated with those changes has resulted in there being no further requirement for the car park and therefore, it could be redeveloped for other purposes.

“The proposal seeks to transform a disused car park into residential accommodation.

“The design lends itself to a successful residential accommodation scheme and will present itself as sympathetically designed architecture for the northern ‘zone of repair’ of Bradford.

“It is of the firm belief that this is a good move for City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and should be seen as a contribution to the ‘zone of repair.’

“It is anticipated that the proposed development will counteract the decline of the area by providing high quality accommodation and a significant increase in local consumers.

“It is anticipated that this proposal will bring more life and activity to the area.”

The application is the latest in a number of flat developments on or just off Sunbridge Road.

Joseph Brennan House was previously used as offices for the NHS, but plans to convert the building into student flats were approved in 2012.

A year later the development hit the headlines when a brochure advertising the student flats to investors described them as being “on the doorstep of Salford Quays”.

It added: “Bradford has a feel associated with the London Docklands; luxury, professionalism and exclusivity.

Collonade House, a high rise opposite Joseph Brennan House, has also been converted into flats, after years of being home to Provident Financial.

A number of former mill and warehouse heritage buildings on Sunbridge Road have also been converted into flats in recent years.