A FORMER cemetery lodge can be converted into a dental surgery.

The proposals for the lodge building at Nab Wood Cemetery, off Bingley Road, were revealed last month.

Submitted by Mohammed Amar the plan would see the long empty building become a new dental surgery with office space.

This week planning officers have granted a "certificate of lawfulness" for the proposals.

It was argued that the previous use of the building, office space, fell within the same planning category as dental surgeries under planning changes introduced by the Government last year, and so would not require a full planning application.

The new dental business would open between 7.30am to 7pm.

There were no objections from any members of the public to the application.

Green Belt housing plans for Nab Wood site are refused

The eye-catching cemetery building was originally used as Council offices for the cemetery but has most recently occupied by Co-Operative Funeralcare.

An application to turn the building to housing was approved in 2011, but the work never took place.

Nab Wood Cemetery is also home to one of the District's three crematoria.

This facility is due to close and be replaced by a new crematorium in Heaton as part of a shake up of bereavement services in the District.

The cemetery and garden of remembrance will remain in place.