A planning application to fit telecommunications equipment to the roof of the former Gala Bingo on Alice Street, Keighley, was submitted to Bradford Council last year.
It was a joint application by telecoms companies MBNL, H3G (UK) Ltd and EE (UK) Limited, and would replace an existing array on the roof of New Devonshire House – an office building in the town centre.
Wrangle over re-location
The application said that the array needed to be re-located, and the roof of the bingo hall was seen as the best option for the new “base station.”
But planning officers at Bradford Council have now refused the application, saying it would appear “wholly incongruous.”
What does the application say?
The application said: “Each base station covers a certain area only and can only handle a limited number of calls at once.
“As mobile phones and devices become more popular, more base stations are needed to ensure continuous coverage.
“In selecting the site, the applicant has had regard to national and local planning policies, the site context, potential alternative solutions, visual impact, health and safety considerations as well as operational need.
“It is considered that the application site and the proposed form of development provide the optimum solution in this instance.”
The application said the current array at New Devonshire House had been in place since 2003, adding: “Due to repairs required to the roof of New Devonshire House, the existing telecoms infrastructure needed to be relocated and now cannot be re-instated on a permanent basis, therefore, a new site is needed.”
The plans say other sites considered, but ultimately discounted, were the roof of the Airedale Shopping Centre, a temporary green space on Cavendish Street and the roof of Shan’s Supermarket.
Serious concerns raised
The plans were refused after Bradford Council’s conservation officer raised serious concerns about the possible impact on the Keighley Town Centre Conservation Area.
Jon Ackroyd said: “The building was constructed as a cinema in 1938 adopting the fashionable Moderne style.
“A substantial amount of apparatus is proposed on the high-level roofs.
“This would be immediately obvious from Alice Street and especially North Street and the top of Cavendish Street.
“The apparatus would be obvious from one of the principal thoroughfares in the Conservation Area.
“It would clash with the form and architectural concept of the building and would look wholly incongruous.
“The harm to a key unlisted building which is locally unusual and one of few examples of its period in the town would be appreciable.”
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