A CONTROVERSIAL application for the change of use of part of Addingham Memorial Hall from community use to a retail showroom has been passed unanimously.

Meeting today members of Bradford Council's Area Planning Panel (Keighley/Shipley) could find no planning grounds to object to the retrospective application for the hall in Main Street, Addingham.

In fact councillors congratulated the trustees of the building for their entrepreneurial skills to keep it running and find extra sources of income.

The application by David Langthorne DGL (Ilkley) Ltd referred to a single storey annexe with its own access door, added to the back of the Memorial Hall building in around 2002, known as the Hilda Holmes room after its benefactor. The room was completed using money bequeathed by Hilda and Phillis Holmes for community use.

It was initially used to provide playgroup facilities to the community but Addingham pre-school playgroup left the hall in 2010 when it relocated to the village primary school.

The annex is now rented to a small business selling windows and doors which only involves one person, the applicant. The space is used as a showroom and there is no manufacturing carried out at the site.

The application had attracted 20 letters of objection. Some residents felt the annexe should remain available for use by community groups and that change of part of the community building to business purposes reduced the capacity for villagers' use of the hall. They argued assertions made by the applicant and supporters of the application that the space was not required for community use were untrue. They further said commercial use of the building in the conservation area was inappropriate and inconsistent with other uses.

However, supporters of the scheme pointed out how village halls are generally not viable as the income from community sources does not cover the running costs. The rent from the tenant of this part of the Memorial Hall provides income to help towards running costs. They argued the annexe stood empty for a period prior to its occupation by the applicant so the new use did not directly displace any existing community groups.

Councillor Adrian Naylor (Ind, Craven) said: "The Memorial Hall is a building that is for most of the time empty in the day and like any community facility it costs money to run. Addingham residents are lucky that they have a Memorial Hall that is meeting its costs and running at a slight profit and the change of use of 14 per cent of the building has not in any way affected amenities of Addingham but has secured the future of the Memorial Hall."