Developers who today unveiled radical plans for a nine-storey block of student flats in Bradford city centre are to face opposition because it will be built in a conservation area.

The £7 million scheme, drawn up by Bradford-based Overland Developments, would stand amid terraced homes and listed buildings and house 240 students.

The firm had hoped the scheme could be open for business to welcome the new intake of students in September 2004. But today its future looked in doubt after English Heritage confirmed it has objected to the project.

The site, opposite the university in Great Horton Road, is currently occupied by a former bakers' shop. It stands in a conservation area surrounded by terraced houses judged to be of historical importance and is close to the listed Bradford College library.

Talks are going on between Bradford Council planners and developers to try to find more suitable plans for the project.

But Overland director Parvez Akhtar today said it was "vitally important" that it got the go-ahead. "Bradford is on the way up and projects like this will assist in its progress," he said.

"This will be achieved by developing what would otherwise be a derelict building that would become an eyesore. By investing in projects such as this and regenerating the city we can make Bradford a vibrant place."

Mohammed Afaq, director of Manchester- architects EVO Con-cepts which designed the scheme, said the plan, which features a Japanese garden, would reflect the university's multi-cultural student population.

"We have respected that this is a conservation area and that the developers wanted this to be a landmark building," he said.

But a spokesman for English Heritage - a public body which protects the nations history - said it was unhappy with the development.

"We feel that the new development dominates the area and its height and scale is inappropriate within the conservation area," he said.