The Ackroyd Textile Factory stood on Factory Street, off Tong Street, until it was badly damaged in a devastating fire in 2011.
The five-storey building was demolished the following year and the site has remained vacant ever since.
A planning application to convert the vacant site into a number of warehouses has now been approved by Bradford City Council.
The plans have been submitted by Twenty4 Secure Storage, which operates a similar self-storage facility in Leeds.
The plans called for a “secure self-storage facility and open storage including reception/office space,” with many of the storage units to be made up of shipping containers.
The application adds: “The development of the site would make good use of brownfield land which is currently underutilised and abandoned.”
“The application aims to create new employment facilities within Bradford city centre, contributing to the city’s economic development and providing ancillary facilities for local businesses and residents.”
A similar application by the company was withdrawn after highways authorities raised traffic concerns.
But earlier this year the company returned with new plans which would remove access to the site from the Tong Street slip road.
All access to the self-storage facility will now be via Factory Street, with highways officials saying the change “improves the existing layout”.
Planners said the site is in an industrial zone, so a row of shipping containers on the land would not look out of place.
Approving the plans, planners said: “While shipping containers have limited design value, their industrial appearance will not adversely affect the character and appearance of the streetscape or wider area for commercial and industrial use. Many of the buildings around the site have an industrial appearance.”
One of the conditions of approval is that the site can only be open between 7am and 7pm.
The approved plans are still in the “outline” stage, meaning the developer still needs to provide further details before work can begin on site.
In 2021, an application to transform the site into an 11-unit industrial estate was approved by Bradford Council.
However, the plan never came to fruition and the site has remained vacant and overgrown ever since.
