A GOVERNMENT planning inspector has overturned Bradford Council’s decision to refuse plans for a city centre café.
Work to convert the ground floor of Westgate House on New John Street from a shop to a café began in Summer 2021.
Later that year Muhammad Ali submitted a retrospective application to regularise the unauthorised work to the building – which lies within a Conservation Area.
Bradford Council refused the plans, saying the changes would harm the building’s traditional shop front.
Officers added that they were “not in keeping with the character of the host building or the city centre conservation area.”
Inspector dismisses appeal to keep Conservation Area signs
The decision was taken to appeal, and Government appointed planning inspector H Jones has overturned the refusal.
They disagreed with the Council’s claim it would harm the building, adding: “The form and proportions of the shopfront in this case are acceptable, befitting of the host property and street.
“The character and appearance of the Conservation Area would be preserved.”
The unit is a former school uniform store that had been empty for a number of years before work began.
The building currently has signage saying the new cafe would be a Shisha bar called Empire - King of Shisha. Signs on the unit say it is "opening soon."
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