What is happening to Timeform House: Fresh bid to hire and sell cars from Halifax town centre site after parking complaints at current King Cross base

Two previous applications have been made to Calderdale Council by Enterprise Mobility for Timeform House on Northgate – but both have been refused.

One proposed the complete demolition of the building and erecting a single-storey cabin to provide the office and service desk for the hire and sale of cars by Enterprise Rent-a-Car – who are currently based at King Cross, near Wainhouse Tower.

A revised application submitted last year then proposed keeping the existing building but demolishing sections of it, including the top two storeys, to create the building required to operate the car hire and sales building.

Landscaping proposals were also put forward.

Both bids were turned down because of heritage, design and highway safety concerns.

The latest application is still to form a hire and sales car business on the site but now proposes keeping a two-storey building on the land through the removal of the top storey and a section of the whole building where it extends towards the Winding Street boundary.

The application also includes a pallet of materials, boundary treatments and landscaping proposals which have been discussed with the council.

According to a planning heritage statement submitted with the application, the business has “outgrown” its current site on Skircoat Moor Road.

And it says there have been complaints about the parking of its vehicles there.

"The re-location of the applicant’s business to the site would resolve longs-tanding issues with the existing operation at the existing Skircoat Moor Road site,” says the statement.

"The business has long outgrown its current location and because of the constraints arising from its overall size, this has resulted in parking on the public highway causing public complaints about obstruction to drivers, although there have been no accidents recorded.

"The police have been actively monitoring the operations around the site and the council has also issued a Community Protection Warning.”

The firm has been looking for a new site for more than six years, says the statement.

Other sites that have been considered but found not suitable for various reasons include the former Land Rover site in Copley and former Dews garage at Northgate.

The application would boost the local economy, the statement argues, with jobs created during the construction process and long-term employment coming when the business opened.

The application is for the altered building as well as associated parking, jet washing and valeting, maintenance and servicing.

A total of 42 parking spaces would be created at the front and back of the building comprising of five van bays, 12 for cars for hire, three for cars to be cleaned, nine for staff parking, 12 for car returns and one disabled space.

Access will be via two points from Winding Road and Cross Street, with the former being an exit only access.

The existing access on Northgate will be closed off to vehicles.

Comments on the application – number 25/00612/FUL – can be made until July 21 via the council’s website.