The Queen will be invited to open the £10 million Bradford police headquarters, expected to be operational in 2005, it was revealed today.

West Yorkshire Police Authority has contacted Buckingham Palace saying members would like the Queen to open the flagship building.

The authority has been told to re-submit its application when it has a firm date, however, because the Queen's diary is done three months in advance.

Staff from both the Tyrls and Odsal stations will move to the new station, which has been delayed after the plans had to be altered because Bradford council stipulated the proposed all brick building should include stone.

The Queen opened the existing Tyrls police headquarters in 1974, which was built at a cost of just over £1 million.

Today Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe said: "I believe it would be entirely appropriate if the Queen were to open it.

"I have visited Odsal police station on a number of occasions and conditions there are cramped and unsuitable."

The Tyrls building, on one of the best sites in the city centre, will then be put up for sale by the Police Authority.

Any new owner will be asked to work closely with Bradford Centre Regeneration, which commissioned international architect Will Alsop to create a master plan of the city.

His radical plan includes a lake beside City Hall, an iconic bridge of learning, housing, shops and a business forest.

Bradford police authority member Councillor Clive Richardson (Con, Thornton) said: "It is an immensely important building and we thought it was only fitting we should invite the head of state to open it.

"The annoying thing is the delay and the fact that we do not yet have dates."

Building work was expected to start in a fortnight on the Nelson Street building on a former industrial site, but Bradford Council's regulatory and appeals committee deferred a decision on the planning application for the building. The committee insisted it should be partly built in .natural stone to give it more presence.

The authority says the decision has added £250,000 to the cost and building will not start until April The blast proof building will house 783 people, including 368 police officers.