PLANS to build a 20 metre tall phone mast next to a listed Bradford building have been refused.

Last month Hutchison 3G UK submitted a planning application for a 4G phone mast and associated equipment cabinet on a section of pavement on Wapping Road.

The mast would be next to historic Wapping School - a Grade II listed building that was the first school in the country to have an on-site swimming pool.

The site has been empty since 2000, and is now in a poor state of repair.

Councillors block plans to demolish historic Wapping school building, saying it would be a 'tragedy' to lose it

But the application has now been refused by Bradford Council, with officers saying the modern equipment would loom over the historic building.

Officers said: "The public benefits, whilst given significant weight, are not considered to outweigh the less than substantial harm that would be caused to the setting of the Grade II listed building against which this tall, functional apparatus would be sited. Options for a less harmful siting would seem possible.

"It is acknowledged that the listed building is in some disrepair; however, that is immaterial to considerations of setting of heritage assets and the Council is endeavouring to progress solutions for its regeneration."