Plans for a combined Co-op store and library building could be submitted in the next two to three weeks, a meeting of more than 200 Burley-in-Wharfedale residents was told this week.

Villagers voiced their concerns and questioned those behind the scheme at a special Bradford Council Neighbourhood Forum Meeting held at the Queens Hall on Tuesday night. The meeting was arranged as a pre-consultation to sound out views on plans to lease the Grange Road site to the Co-op long term, with the Co-op building a new library on the first floor.

The council’s principal libraries officer, Jackie Kitwood, assured residents the library was not under threat, and the council had no plans to close it.

But she said there was a £200,000 backlog of maintenance work, and the 1970s building was not “fit for purpose”.

The Co-operative Group’s regional manager, Peter Ryan, told the meeting legal complications with the lease prevented the company making improvements at its existing shop.

He said: “I’m really ashamed of the store that we offer the people of Burley, it’s not a pleasant store by any stretch of the imagination.”

But members of the public tackled him on conditions in the shop, claiming the Co-op had allowed the former newsagents premises to deteriorate.

“It’s an absolute disaster,” said one critic.

Residents also questioned a retail survey claiming the bigger store would not put local traders out of business, and contested claims that the new development would be “traffic neutral”.

Parking and traffic on Grange Road, expansion of retail into a recreational area, height and appearance of the building, the number of truck deliveries, and noise from refrigeration units were among the concerns raised.

Tony Dodd, of Dutton Dodd Consultants, said the Co-op’s lease on its current Station Road shop expires in November.

If the plans are agreed by Bradford Council, building work could start in the spring.

He warned that bigger companies such as Tesco or Sainsburys may try to establish their own shops if the Co-op does not move.