A clothing firm’s bid to revamp its shop with cladding has been blocked by Kirklees Council.
Ushiwear was planning to re-launch its store in Mirfield with a new look on the outside.
Bosses submitted a plan that would see most of the front of the Yorkshire stone building in Lower Hopton covered in vertical timber panels.
But planning officers said the cladding was “out of character” for the largely residential area and recommended it was refused.
The plan was referred to the Heavy Woollen planning sub-committee by Mirfield councillors on the basis that no members of the public had objected to the new design.
At the meeting in Dewsbury, business owner Neil Kapusi, said he did not think the cladding was ugly or would have any detrimental impact on adjacent properties on Calder Road.
He said modern cladding had been installed on the nearby Victorian built Ledgard Mill without any issue.
“The benefits of this far outway the subjective views of one planning officer,” he told the committee.
But councillors on the committee did not agree.
Mirfield based councillor, Kath Taylor, said she could not support the proposed new look.
“The charm of Lower Hopton is that all the shops are stone fronted,” she said.
“Cladding is totally out of keeping with the whole of this area.”
She added: “Cladding was put on Ledgard Mill when it was falling down and so anything was an improvement.”
Clr Graham Turner said: “I don’t get why you would want to clad a stone building.
“I like Yorkshire stone, it looks nice. To cover it in cladding would be totally out of character.
“Perhaps I’m a heathen but it seems like heresy to me.”
A vote of councillors saw the plan refused.
The Examiner contacted Ushiwear but no one responded.
The growing firm is aiming to open 12 new boutiques across the UK and has ambitions to expand into Europe.
The premises at Calder Road are currently operating as a design studio manufacturing and screen printing garments with the facility for members of the public to buy garments but no fitting rooms.
The plan was to transform the space into a fully functioning shop with changing rooms and displays.
