Developer pulls out of retirement village scheme

The developer has announced it is pulling out of a multimillion-pound regeneration scheme.

McCarthy Stone was due to build a 47-apartment development on the former Ian Clough Hall site in Baildon.

However, without providing any details at to why, the firm said it had "made the decision not to proceed".

Bradford Council confirmed the news and said it would be looking to put the site back on the market.

A spokesperson from McCarthy Stone said: "Regrettably, we have had to make the decision not to proceed with the Baildon site but continue to explore options to bring our retirement living offering to the area in the future."

The hall, off Hallcliffe, has already been demolished, but work on the building has not started despite a planning application being approved in October, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Ian Clough Hall, which included Baildon Library, was demolished in 2023 – with Bradford Council selling the site for development.

When the work was announced, the council revealed plans to open a new library in the neighbouring Baildon Club building, which the local authority had purchased, but due to council budget concerns, those plans were later paused.

Baildon ward councillor Debbie Davies said the news that McCarthy Stone had withdrawn from the site had come as a surprise.

She now fears that site could remain empty, similar to the stalled Westfield shopping centre development that plagued Bradford city centre for years.

She added: "We are very disappointed that the new library project - that the sale of the land was meant to fund - is on hold with the former Baildon Club standing empty in a prominent position in Baildon and deteriorating by the day.

"We also now have our own 'hole in the ground' as Bradford did for many years and rather than unsightly fencing around the site we would like to see some basic landscaping done as it is nearly two years since the Ian Clough Hall was demolished and potentially could remain that way for a lot longer."

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