A CANALSIDE office block could be transformed into flats.

Plans have been unveiled for the conversion of the Riddlesden building, which housed an accountancy business, into ten apartments.

A planning application has been submitted to Bradford Council.

The Sovereign House building, at the junction of Bradford Road and Granby Lane, would be home to a mixture of one and two-bed flats.

A third storey would be added to the current block.

Sixteen parking spaces would be provided and the access widened.

Existing trees and shrubbery at the site, which is alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, would be retained.

Agent Michael Ainsworth said the scheme was designed "sensitively" to blend with current surroundings.

And he added it would help towards meeting a desperate need for more housing in the district, utilising a brownfield site.

"Externally the structure won't change a great deal – alterations will be relatively modest," he said.

"There'll be an extra 'box floor' added to the existing two storeys and new windows etc. They'll help lift the building, which is a fairly typical 1960s/70s structure.

"Materials used will ensure the proposals are sympathetic to the immediate surroundings.

"All existing landscaping features will be retained and an additional grassed area will be provided to the front.

"There will be little perceived change from a street-level perspective and the retention of trees and bushes to the rear means the building will be screened from the canal towpath."

Mr Ainsworth – acting for the applicant, SSZ Developments – added: "It is well documented that there is a shortage of housing not only locally, but nationally.

"This scheme will help to alleviate that need and provide quality accommodation."

He said if the plans were approved, work would start virtually straightaway and could be completed within about six months.

Keighley town councillor Andrea Walker, whose ward includes the site, said she broadly welcomed the scheme.

"I am pleased that a brownfield site is being used – too many greenfield areas are being lost to housing and we need to protect our green spaces," she said.

"This plan will help satisfy a need for housing.

"My only potential concern would be about traffic levels because that is an issue in the ward, but provided that is addressed I think apartments there are a good idea."

Keighley East district councillor Malcolm Slater said the proposal was "generally sound" and would add to the supply of private rented accommodation.

"The planning application certainly has merit in that it would bring back into use a building which was formerly offices – so a brownfield site," he added.

"Clearly the planning department will have to apply the relevant policies to its evaluation and address matters such as access, drainage and materials.

"More 'affordable' social housing would be preferable, but that would need a radical policy change from the Government."