KNOCKING down a large Ilkley house and replacing it with 19 apartments will improve the area rather than produce a blot on the landscape, planning officers have decided.

The scheme, by Ilkley-based developer Leeds and Bradford Homes, will result in a high quality development on land at Brookfield Croft, 67A Bolling Road, according to the Keighley Area Planning Panel.

Despite objections from Ilkley Parish Council and 13 residents, members of the planning panel voted on Tuesday this week to give the scheme the go-ahead. Outline planning permission had been granted last year but now the details have also been approved, building work can start.

Planning panel chairman Chris Greaves said he was satisfied that any problems with the development had been taken care of by the conditions applied to the outline planning permission. The conditions ensure that the developer has to comply with the panel's wishes.

He said: "The panel liked it very much indeed. It is contemporary but this is going to be very high quality but they (the apartments) are not going to be cheap)."

The apartments will have a flat roof with penthouse apartments, roof gardens and balconies looking into the middle of the development, to prevent them overlooking neighbouring properties.

The flat roofs, while reducing the overall height of the development, will allow the installation of solar panels to provide energy efficiency, says a developer's report to the planning panel.

The outside wall of the block of flats will be constructed of natural stone and white render, like many surrounding buildings in Ben Rhydding.

Coun Greaves (Con - Wharfedale) said: "I think we are going to end up with a building people will want to look at."

But Ilkley Parish Council's planning committee was not impressed with the scheme. Chairman Kate Brown sent a statement to the planning panel saying: "The design is out of character with the surrounding area, it looks higher because the pitched roof is removed and the materials are out of character with the surrounding properties."

Parish councillors also said that the plan was contrary to many of the recommendations contained in the Ilkley Design Statement.

Other objectors suggested that a block of flats containing only ten homes rather than 19 would be more suitable to the site. But a report to the planning panel says: "The buildings would be set in a spacious site well away from boundaries and very little of the development would be seen from public vantage points.

"It is not agreed that using a flat roof construction will produce a blot on the landscape' described by objectors. This contemporary design is appropriate in this particular townscape context."