Pub in Baildon to make way for flats

Application to needlessly demolish The Little Blue Orange public house to make way for a plot for 6 houses and 9 apartments:

http://www.planning4bradford.com/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=NWZ97ADHLT000

Surely it can be justified that a pub/restaurant in this location is sustainable?

A perfectly robust building that could be used in a number of commercial incarnations, or at worst, converted to very attractive housing, is to be flattened. Pubs have huge car parks, which  make such premises easy options to bolster profits when under the cross-hairs of the annual asset audit at a major brewer.

It is a major flaw in the development industry, and is the fault of the planning consultant that hastily fails to consider whether extant buildings are viable for retention. The private consultant works with red line plans only, seeing only hectares and minimum dwelling densities.