PLANS to demolish an old college, replacing it with a temporary garden and eventually a £19 million public sector and community hub in Keighley, have been approved.

The disused Keighley College site lies at the junction of North Street and Cavendish Street and has been on the market for almost two years but no buyer has been found.

The three-part proposal for the demolition of the existing site, a three-year temporary replacement landscaped area and car park, and an outline application for a public sector hub went before Bradford Council’s regulatory and appeals committee meeting today.

Committee members agreed the existing Bradford Council-owned building should be demolished but raised concerns over the three-year temporary garden to be built in its place.

The landscaping space originally featured the retention of the site’s existing car park. But members said this would add to traffic in Alice Street, which Councillor Doreen Lee dubbed Keighley’s most dangerous rat-run.

The three elements of the proposal were approved subject to the proposal for a car park on the temporary site being removed by its developers. Meanwhile, outline planning permission for the public sector hub was given subject to it having car parking spaces for disabled people only.

Cllr Lee said of the site: “It’s an eyesore to Keighley. I agree we need to build something there, but I think a hub is a rubbish idea.

“We already have three hubs in Keighley, including the civic centre.

“They are hugely underused. A hub would be a waste of time.

“Cars on there would be a disaster. We don’t need a car park there.”

The committee meeting also heard the site, which includes a 1960s building and three others built between 1886 and 1932, will not be listed by Historic England.

Marc Pearson, of Leeds-based application agent’s Acanthus WSM Architects, said the public sector hub section of the proposal would increase footfall in Keighley town centre. He said: “The public’s benefits to the scheme far outweigh its harm.”