Residents plead for permission to put uPVC doors and windows in homes at Halifax's historic former Royal Infirmary hospital

Historic Royal Halifax Infirmary at Free School Lane was closed in 2001 and the site redeveloped as homes as part of a shake up of hospital services in Calderdale.

Monica Skubiak, the Vice-Chair of Halifax Royal Infirmary Management Committee has made the application to to Calderdale Council to make the improvements on behalf of the group which represents residents and owners.

The application – number 23/00406/VAR, which can be viewed on the council’s Planning Portal – seeks to alter planning conditions to allow owners to choose a material other than timber, such as uPVC, in doors and windows.

A supporting statement from HRIMC says residents are faced with durability and repair problems at the Victorian hospital buildings including the cost of timber replacements being higher than an example they give, uPVC.

Damp and energy efficiency are also factors.

There are inconsistencies among the various planning applications and this application would help remove those, says the statement.

In essence, some residents already have the choice but others do not, it says.

The former hospital buildings were developed into 217 homes by developer PJ Livesey after the Infirmary shut. This took place over the course of three to four years .

Development included Group 1 (original buildings converted with very little apparent change externally), Group 2 (original buildings converted, altered and extended with some new build extensions) and Group 3 (new build homes designed to blend with the older buildings).

The Royal Halifax Infirmary was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York, the future King George V and Queen Mary, in 1896.

It was unveiled on the same day the royal couple opened the Halifax Borough Market.

Its wards were named after local families and leading industrial figures of the day who supported its building costs.

Calderdale patients now use the town’s Calderdale Royal Hospital, which was created on the site of the former Halifax General Hospital, and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in neighbouring Kirklees, depending on the service or treatment they require.