A planning application to turn the former NatWest building in New Line, Greengates, Bradford into a retail unit and coffee shop, with an extension, was submitted in August and has now been approved.
The plans include a convenience store to the left of the building, using the existing shop front and entrance door.
A new entrance, including an access ramp, will be created for the coffee shop, under the plans.
There will also be a bi-fold door opening installed for the front of the coffee shop, where the inside seating area is, with the same feature for the side of the building.
An old picture of the former NatWest bank building in New Line, Greengates (Image: Telegraph & Argus)
This will open out onto an outside seating area next to Elder Street, where the current external wall is set to be extended to create a larger space.
The plans also include an extension to the flat roof to the rear of the property to form a kitchen for the coffee shop and back exit for the retail unit, with a small loading/parking bay in this area.
Planning officer Nina Preston said in her report that the proposed change is “permitted development and one that does not require planning consent”.
She added: “Planning permission is not required when the existing and proposed uses fall within the same Use Class.”
The elements of this application that were assessed, as they require planning permission, were the external alterations.
Both businesses proposed opening hours of 7am until 11pm daily and on Bank Holidays.
The coffee shop will be on the right side of the building, with a new entrance created, and the external wall will be extended to create a large outdoor seating area (Image: Telegraph & Argus)
Environmental Health Nuisance Protection was consulted, and it recommended that the opening hours should be no later than 10pm from Monday to Saturday and 6pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Ms Preston explained the Local Planning Authority has no control over opening hours, due to it being a permitted development.
But she said: “It is considered appropriate to restrict the use of the outdoor seating area until 9pm.
“The restriction to these hours is acceptable given the proximity to a main road and the opening hours of the neighbouring Asda supermarket, which is open from 7am until 10pm Monday to Saturday.”
The approval comes despite the majority of those who made representations objecting to the plans and the reservations of a highway officer.
There were 20 representations received but this included multiple comments from the same people, according to Ms Preston’s report.
She said: “The representations therefore will be counted as one representation. A total of three support and 12 objections.”
Those in support said the development would improve the appearance of an outdated building and create a vibrant community hub.
They said, “concerns for hours and parking won’t be known until open but can be dealt with accordingly” and the coffee shop and store would be accessible to local people on foot and bus route.
The objections focused primarily on the impact to those living in residential properties nearby.
They included concerns around the early/late opening hours of the businesses which would “have detrimental effect on neighbours’ amenity”, the “loss of privacy of neighbours’ properties” and worries about “noise and disturbance” from the outdoor seating area.
Parking is already an issue in the surrounding streets with people blocking in neighbours and parking over drives, while Elder Street, which is residential and an access-only road, is also often blocked, according to objectors.
A summary of the objections said the coffee shop and store would encourage “anti-social behaviour, which is already an issue in the local area.”
The building is close to Elder Street and Ashgrove (Image: Telegraph & Argus)
Works have yet to get underway but internal walls have been removed, according to objectors.
Highways Officer Jennifer Craven said in a report published on November 6 last year that the development would lead to a potential parking increase of seven more vehicles.
The building is situated on a site that also contains a pharmacy and Asda store, with car parking spots in front of the premises as well as a small car park to the side.
Ms Craven’s assessment was that the proposal would “intensify use of the site” and “result in a likely increase in on-street parking demand” where demand is already high.
She said this would “likely lead to indiscriminate parking close to a busy classified road and conditions prejudicial to pedestrian and highway safety”.
The Highways Officer recommended the scale of the development be reduced, suggesting one way of doing this would be by removing the outdoor seating area.
Ms Preston said this was noted but that “the impact on highway safety can only be considered in respect of the external alterations and not the use as a shop and coffee shop”.
She added: “The alterations to the building façade will not affect highway safety.”