PLANS to build new homes on the site of a church razed after a major fire last year have been met with objection.

In January 2018 a fire broke out in the derelict Unitarian Church building on Broadway Avenue, Little Horton.

It left the building badly damaged, and it was flattened as a safety measure shortly after the site had been secured.

Now a new planning application to build five three-storey houses on the site, which remains empty, has been submitted to Bradford Council.

The development would comprise three five-bedroom homes, a three-bedroom home and a two-bedroom home. There would also be nine parking spaces.

Similar plans to develop the site, by demolishing the church and replacing it with five houses, were approved in 2016. But work never started, and the permission expired late last year.

The site is surrounded on all sides by housing.

Sally Pemberton, of nearby Hastings Street, said she and her husband "strongly object" to the application.

"The building of five, three storey houses will mean we are overlooked into our

garden, front room and bedroom," she said.

"Residents in the houses will be able to see into our property, through our living room and front bedroom and this is an invasion of our privacy.

"We will feel like we are constantly being watched and this makes us feel uneasy and quite upset that we won't feel comfortable in our own home."

She also raised concerns about parking problems, saying the street is already "ridiculously busy".

While Liaqat Zaman, of Broadway Avenue, said: "There is already an issue over parking as it is so busy."

Babar Luqman, also of Broadway Avenue, echoed concerns about parking and said that if something is built which does not match other properties it will look "out of proportion".

He also said there's a mosque nearby which is busy at prayer times and needs a lot of parking on Muslim holidays and on Fridays.

"I would urge you to reconsider this planning application," he wrote.

The church was originally built in 1906 as a “temporary” home for one of the city’s two Unitarian Church congregations. But the congregation remained in the building for 100 years before selling the building and becoming part of the Bradford Unitarians - which meets in Russell Street.

When the first application to build housing was approved, planning officers described the site as being “in a state of disrepair”. Last year's fire is thought to have been started when someone lit rubbish that had been dumped on the site.

In the new application, the owner of the site, Nadeem Butt, said: “Every effort has been made in this proposal to meet the planning policies of the Council. It is of upmost importance for developments to match and complement the wider properties in the area.”