A DERELICT home which was blighting a nearby business has been demolished, shortly after a Keighley News article highlighted problems being caused by the building.

Parkwood House was knocked down over the course of two days, beginning on Tuesday last week. (April 9)

Parts of the empty building’s roof were gone, doors and windows missing and what was left of the interior had been wrecked by vandals and trespassers.

As reported in the Keighley News, the owners of a kitchen company next door to the house – Pineoakio – warned the presence of the disused property was harming their own business, and was acting as a magnet for yobs, fly-tippers and arsonists.

Responding to the business’s concerns, Parkwood House’s owner, Shillelagh Property Limited, applied to Bradford Council to have it demolished.

The same application explained the house could be replaced with four industrial units, with further details to be confirmed later.

A spokesman for the team behind the demolition has thanked Bradford Council for helping ensure it could go ahead speedily.

He added property manager Carly McGrann had put the council in contact with the owners of the house.

He said: “Within three weeks of the meeting, the house was knocked down by Bingley Demolition Ltd.

“It was achieved using the skills of a local master builder as project manager – Simon Squires.

“Planned rebuilding on the site will feature low cost industrial/office units, which will help the local economy gain momentum. The units will be available to rent or buy.

“This positive outcome could not have been achieved without the outstanding help and support of Matthew McDonald at Bradford Council, who went above and beyond in his efforts.

“The council expedited the normal process to make this happen quickly, as the house was genuinely dangerous for local kids being mischievous.”

Last month (March) Stacey Bower, who runs Pineoakio with her husband Michael, said the company was regularly suffering vandalism from teenagers, who were getting onto the firm’s car park via the access road shared with Parkwood House.

Reacting this week to the house’s demolition, Mrs Bower said: “I’m hoping it will now mean youngsters will no longer be attracted to smoke and hang around at this spot.

“I know there’s not a lot for them to do in the area, but a derelict house with huge holes in the floor was absolutely not the right place for them to be. A child could easily have been killed.

“To be fair to the owners, once the problem was covered in the paper they came round and sorted it and arranged for the house to be knocked down.

“It is sad because this was once a very nice family home with an apple and pear orchard in the garden.

“But it had remained empty for about 10 years and no one wanted to buy it.”