Plans to regenerate the city are being blighted by flytipping, a Bradford business owner claims.

A major scheme to transform an old building into a £150,000 restaurant is expected to boost investment in the area.

However, mounds of rubbish constantly being illegally dumped where customers are to park is creating an unsightly scar, according to the man overseeing the renovation project.

Peter Townend, who also runs a photography business in the Southend Hall building he owns on Tickhill Street, off Leeds Road, said: "We have got permission to convert the top two floors of the building into a top class restaurant and this is the sort of investment BD3 requires.

"But there seems to be a never ending sequence of flytipping and the Council is not helping with this at all."

The 70-yard stretch of road behind the property has become a regular dumping ground for debris including trees and builders' waste.

But because the street is unadopted Bradford Council has refused to clear the waste.

A Council spokesman said: "The Council is not legally obliged to deal with flytipping on unadopted streets, although we will always try to help with the problem where possible and where the work can be done easily by Council staff.

"The rubbish consists of hardcore and building materials that have been there some time and we would need to employ a special contractor to remove it which would be very expensive."

But Mr Townend believed it was unfair to expect businesses to carry the cost of illegal dumping.

He said: "It will cost hundreds of pounds to clear the rubbish but this is just one of those stalemate things where businesses lose out.

"The Council is fobbing-off its responsibility because I was not aware this was an unadopted road until recently. I would have thought it would have met us halfway or helped stop this happening again.

"It is just not good enough to sweep it to one side and let the poor business deal with the problem."