A PLAN to turn old mill buildings in Bradford into more than 100 “luxury” apartments has been refused.

An application was lodged last year to transform Garden Mills and Junction Mills, which stand on Thornton Road and were once part of Bradford College, into 112 apartments.

Documents submitted with the proposal said the plan would give a “new lease of life” to the old buildings, which are now surplus to requirements for the college.

“The concept is to raise the profile and standard of design to form luxury residential apartments that can be leased to both the public sectors and students that are eco-friendly, efficient and sustainable,” said the application.

The plan was to turn Garden Mills into 70 apartments and Junction Mills into 42 apartments.

The change of use was described as “inevitable” and the application said that if nothing is done, the buildings will fall further into a state of disrepair.

“The refurbishment will promote regeneration and promote employment,” it said, adding that 'for sale' signs have been up for some time with little interest shown.

A number of reasons were given for the refusal of the application, submitted by Harjoith Sekhon (Madison Investment) and Bradford College.

In looking at air quality, the decision report said: "The application as submitted provides insufficient information to enable its proper consideration by the Local Planning Authority.

“In particular, there is inadequate information with regards to the impact the air quality within the Thornton Road corridor will have on the residential amenities of the future occupiers of the development.”

The report also raised the issue of affordable housing.

It said: “The proposal is of a type and scale that would normally require social contributions to be made due to the additional pressures placed on local infrastructure in relation to provision of affordable housing.

“The developer has neither offered the full contribution nor given an acceptable justification as to why it should not be made."

It also said: "The application as submitted provides insufficient information to enable its proper consideration by the Local Planning Authority.

"In particular, there is inadequate information with regards to biodiversity issues associated with the proposed development in the form of a preliminary ecological appraisal which is required to identify ecological constraints and requirements for further survey."

The report said there was a inadequate information regarding the potential flood risk to the development "through conflicting statements contained within the submitted Flood Risk Assessments".

The Airedale NHS Foundation Trust requested a contribution of £6,029.49 to "go towards the gap in the funding created by each potential patient from this development".

It said in consultation that it is currently operating "at full capacity in the provision of acute and planned healthcare" and the development would create a potentially long-term impact on it's ability to provide services as required.