Verdict on Burley library plan due soon (From Ilkley Gazette)

Extended building would accommodate convenience store

7:00am Sunday 8th January 2012 in News

Plans to extend Burley-in-Wharfedale Library to accommodate a Co-operative convenience store are due to go before a Bradford Council planning committee shortly.

The council confirmed this week that the Burley Library planning application is expected to go before an “imminent” Shipley Area Planning Panel meeting.

The date has yet to be confirmed, although a meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 18. The agenda and details of the meeting are yet to be announced.

There has been a big response to the proposal from the community, including both letters of support for the development and a petition against the plans.

The Co-op already has a store in a former newsagents premises on Station Road, Burley, but wants to move to bigger premises.

Bosses told a public meeting in the autumn that facilities would benefit both staff and customers, and that the lease on the Station Road premises was due to run out in November 2011.

The development would see a first-floor extension built on the Bradford Council-owned library building, and the Co-op would move into the ground floor. But many villagers have concerns about traffic and parking, and the impact of a bigger store on independent shops in the village.

Burley Parish Council has recommended that Bradford Council refuses planning permission.

Ward councillor Matt Palmer (Con, Wharfedale) requested that the planning application should be determined by councillors at a meeting held locally, to make it easier for residents to be present when the decision is made.