PROPOSALS to turn a Baildon social club in to the town's new library have officially been submitted.

Late last year it was announced that Bradford Council planned to move Baildon Library from its current home of Ian Clough Hall to The Baildon Club - a vacant building across the street.

After the move the Council would close Ian Clough Hall and sell the site.

The plan is expected to cost £1.5m.

This week, two separate planning applications for the library shake up were submitted by Bradford Council.

One is for the change of use of the club building into a library.

And the other is to create a temporary library in a former newsagents unit on Northgate. This facility will mean Baildon retains a library while work is underway to refurbish the new library - a process that is expected to take around nine months.

The new library would have 252 square metres of library shelving on the first floor, a community room, public computers, reading room and space for Baildon Town Council - which also is currently based at Ian Clough Hall.

The temporary library, a former Martin's Newsagent that shut in 2020, will be turned into a 73.7 square metre library with office space on the first floor.

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Last year Bradford Council said Ian Clough Hall, in the centre of the town "no longer meets current standards and needs to be permanently closed."

The announcement meant the future of Baildon's library service was uncertain.

When the Council announced its plans for the library move, it was revealed the authority planned to sell the top two tiers of the Ian Clough Hall site - the plateau on which the hall sits and the level of pay and display parking immediately below it.

The lower tier of car parking would remain in use as “pay & display” public car park.

The application for the new library says: "The Baildon Social Club is not a listed building but it does occupy a prominent position in Baildon Conservation Area and fits appropriately within its setting and surroundings. Some of the buildings were purchased by the Baildon Conservative Club in 1887, and extended in later years.

"This Planning Application proposes to modify the existing internal spaces to suit a new library provision, without fundamentally effecting the external massing and character of the existing buildings. The conversion will be largely cosmetic, decorative and will not involve any major structural work, demolition or extension."

Decisions on the two applications are expected in late May.