ONE of the District’s most infamous crumbling buildings could be saved - if plans to convert it into supported living units area approved.

The Carnegie Library on Leeds Road in Shipley, thought to date back to 1905, has been derelict for years.

The most recent plan for the building - to demolish it brick by brick and rebuild it in another location as part of a planned housing development, fell through years ago.

But now a new planning application submitted to Bradford Council could see the building, which was also an Irish Centre, saved.

Carlton Care Group, which provides services for adults with learning disabilities and complex needs, wants to turn the building into residential accommodation.

The application is for the conversion of the building into seven flats - two one-bed flats, four two-bed flats and one three bed flat.

The flats would be for adults who require some kind of support or care to prepare them for independent living.

It says: “It is proposed to preserve as much of the original building as possible, including cleaning and maintaining the fabric of the building to an acceptable standard.

Bradford's 10 buildings with the biggest potential to act as a catalyst for regeneration

An application to turn the building into apartments was approved by Bradford Council in 2008 - but the scheme never went ahead.

Located on the busy junction of Leeds Road and Carr Lane, the building was once a grand welcome into Shipley, but is now a shell of its former self.

It was built with a £3,000 donation by American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie - who also helped build hundreds of other libraries around the world.

In 2018 the Telegraph & Argus and Bradford Civic Society released a list of the 10 building in the district that would most help regeneration if they were brought back into use. The Carnegie Library made the list, with Alan Hall, vice chair of Bradford Civic Society, saying: “Bradfordians will be more used to seeing this building derelict than full of life - that’s how long it’s been abandoned.”

A decision on the application is expected in August.