A DEVELOPER hoped to provide extra flats in a city centre building refurbishment, claiming an earlier scheme had become “unviable” due to world events.

An application to turn the upper four storeys of a building at the corner of Westgate and Kirkgate into 20 flats was approved by Bradford Council last year.

But now a second application for the building has been submitted – this time for 24 flats.

The plans say a mix of Brexit, the Ukraine war and the conflict in Palestine has made the 20 flat plan “unviable,” with more flats now needed for the scheme to go ahead.

The application, by Westgate House BFD Ltd, says: “Since the approval, the economic circumstance has been very volatile and challenging as a result of the fallout from post Brexit, prolonged Covid 19, the ongoing Russian conflict all of which had caused building materials and labour cost to soar.

“These had a cumulative economic effect and caused the increased in utility bills.

“Now coupled with the Palestinian issue had also caused some effect on the economy.”

The application adds “By tweaking the former design, which was five apartments per floor, the design was improved and managed to achieve six apartments per floor.

“Therefore 24 apartments have been achieved on the overall which meant that the scheme can be viable.”

The application adds: “Basically within the next 12 months, if nothing positive is done, then these commercial office spaces are likely to become disrepair.”