A GOVERNMENT department responsible for giving the go-ahead to allow the sale of a prominent Keighley town centre building has confirmed it has not yet agreed to the deal.

A buyer for the former Keighley College property in Cavendish Street, which is owned by Bradford Council, was first announced in October of last year.

But since then, the project has been held up because there has been no Government authorisation of the sale.

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “We are considering the application to buy the former Keighley College building, and will announce a decision in due course.”

Despite being asked by the Keighley News, the department gave no indication as to when the decision will be made, or why the process has taken so long.

Bradford Council has previously explained Government approval is required for the sale because the currently disused property was originally bought using Government cash.

An organisation called the Utley Centre wants to buy the empty building, renovate it and turn it into a mixed use business and enterprise centre.

It has said it intends to use the property for a number of purposes, including back-to-work schemes to tackle unemployment and an office 'hot-desks' initiative.

There would also be shops, mainly on the ground floor and basement level of the 33,000 sq ft, five-floor building.

Project manager, Raza Israil, said he and his colleagues can now only wait for the Government department decision.

"We don't know anything else at this stage, and we've done all we can do," he added.

Keighley town councillor Mohammed Nazam, who represents the council's town ward, said he is sorry the process to sell the building had dragged on for ten months.

"Bradford Council should have gained consent for selling the building right from the start, rather than find a buyer first," he added. "They've had months to get this sorted out.

"Now, we've got a problem because the buyer will have its own deadlines to meet and this is just putting it further behind.

"Of course, I hope this won't happen, but if they were to pull out we'd be back to square one. We need to press on.

"I can't fault the Utley Centre, and I support what they're trying to do. Their plans will bring more people into the town and more businesses, which is what we need. I'm just sorry this has taken so long."

Earlier this month, Bradford Council revealed it had been unable to find a buyer for the other empty former college building, at the junction of North Street and Cavendish Street.