A PLANNING committee will be urged to approve plans to build a new Co-Op store in Saltaire at a meeting next week.

An application to demolish the car wash business on Bingley Road and build a new convenience store in its place was first submitted to Bradford Council earlier this year.

Earlier this month the Co-Op confirmed that if the application was approved it would be moving from its current unit further up Bingley Road into the newly built store.

Next week members of the Council's Keighley and Shipley Area Planning Panel will decide whether to approve the development.

The store would have a 265sqm sales are and a 125sqm “back of house” area, along with parking spaces for 14 cars and eight bicycles.

It is not the first application to build a store on this site.

In 2016 Sainsbury's was granted permission to build a convenience store on the site. However, the development never went ahead.

Like the Sainsbury's application was before it, the new application had proved controversial, and over 190 people have objected to the proposals.

Record breaking printing press to move to new creative space in Saltaire

Shipley Town Council has voiced an objection, saying it would undermine other businesses in the village, and arguing that it would encourage car travel in an already busy area.

The Town Council added: "Cycling and walking need to be the primary travel modes for developments at this location."

A report to the committee details some of the objections to the plans, which range from issues around highway safety to the impact on the Saltaire World Heritage site.

Many of the objections seem to have been made before it was announced that the store would be a Co-Op, as objectors say the area is already well served by the Co-Op. Many argue that the Council should support the Co-Op and other local businesses by refusing the plans.

One said: "It seems unfair to penalise businesses by introducing additional competition when they have lost revenue and trade over the past year."

Others argue the site should be used as a community garden or a play area.

A planning officer's report going to the panel says: "Whilst many objectors have referred to it as a 'supermarket', it should be noted that this is a small scale convenience store designed to serve the resident population at Saltaire for top-up shopping requirements.

"The existing Co-Op is intending to relocate here so it is probable that there would be not net increase in convenience store provision.

"In any case, it is well established that it is not the purpose of the planning system to protect existing shops from competition.

"The preference of objectors for the site to be put to other uses are noted however the Council has a duty to consider the proposal that has been submitted. The fact that a site may lend itself to an alternative use would not constitute a valid planning reason for withholding consent."