PLANS to create two basement flats in a Listed building dating back to the 1830s have been refused by planning officers.

In 2017 Bradford Council approved a planning application to turn 6 Piccadilly, a Grade II listed office building in the city centre, into eight flats.

This included a Basement flat that would have a separate living room/kitchen and bedroom.

But earlier this year Balbir Panesar submitted an application to alter this plan, by splitting the basement up into two studio flats.

Work on the building has been carried out, and the application says: "During construction it was felt necessary to convert the already approved 1 Bed basement apartment into 2 studios. As a result there is an additional unit created."

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However planning officers have now refused that application due to the small size of the proposed basement flats. Originally the basement unit would be 51 square metres. The replacement studio flats would measure just 24.5sqm and 22.9sqm - well below national space standards.

They said: "The two basement apartments, due to their insufficient internal floor area and lack of storage provided will not provide adequate living accommodation and would have detrimental impact on the amenity of the future occupiers of the basement apartments."

Officers pointed out that the only storage space for the two flats was a shared space under the stairs leading to the basement.

And they also raised concerns that one of the flats would have just one window, which would "have a detrimental impact on the liveability of the retained flats."