AN application to demolish a complex of food businesses and replace them with a petrol station has been submitted to Bradford Council.

A filling station and new convenience store would be built on the site of the Regal Complex on White Abbey Road if the new application by Pearl Forecourts Ltd is approved by Bradford Council.

The application says the work will be an “opportunity for notable urban regeneration” on one of the key routes into Bradford city centre.

The site is currently occupied by a number of restaurants and cafes, but the application describes these buildings as “of poor design quality” and the site as “underutilised.”

It says busy White Abbey Road is an “ideal” site for a filling station.

The filling station would have 35 parking spaces, including the filling bays, with the 363 square metre shop employing 16 people.

The planning application says: “The Regal Complex opened as a restaurant venue in 2005 and has since been subdivided in to four separate entities including a restaurant, sweets/dessert shop amongst others, and is located along White Abbey Road, a vibrant main road with an array of commercial uses, locally referred to as ‘Mini Bollywood’ given the array of fabric shops and diverse cuisine catered for the area’s Southeast Asian community.

“The building is of poor design quality and sits within a generous sized plot with a large parking area, much of which is underutilised.

“The applicant considers the site an ideal location for a petrol filling station.

“Roadside services, by the nature of their operation, can only be sited in certain locations where there are sufficient traffic counts to make the development viable.

“The development site is very much appropriate for a roadside facility and is located close to several ‘traffic builders’ including residential and large areas of commercial uses.

“In fact, the site was originally constructed as a petrol filling station before becoming a restaurant.”

Urban Future Planning Consultancy, representing the applicants, said the work “would generate sustainable economic development and notable additional jobs for local people in times of economic uncertainty.”

The agents told the Telegraph & Argus that it could not currently say what the future plans for the existing business on the site are.

The T&A also contacted Café Regal, which is based in the complex, but has yet to receive a response.

A decision on the application is expected later this month.