Changes are being made to a £120 million scheme for a ‘clean energy’ complex in Keighley.

But those behind the pioneering project, which could create about 500 jobs, say the proposed amendments will not affect the initiative hugely.

Permission is being sought from Bradford Council – which is still to rule on the original planning application – to move a chimney stack and reduce an office block from four to two storeys, to conform with health and safety requirements.

“These are the final changes, and we can then move forward with the scheme,” said agent John Steel, of JO Steel Consulting.

“The reduced size of the office block will mean us cutting employee numbers there from about 150 to 100, but the changes will not make any difference to the operation of the plants or their output.”

Three plants for recycling waste are proposed on the derelict former gas works site in Airedale Road, alongside the Aire Valley trunk road at Marley.

The scheme would also include an education and visitor centre, parking and landscaping.

A data storage centre and offices would be built on land in nearby Dalton Lane.

The full planning application should go before the council’s regulatory and appeals committee in April. If the project gets the green light, work could start in the autumn, with the complex operational by the end of 2016.