A £45 million development of more than 700 apartments in Bradford has been hit by a further setback after its developer went into administration.

The Citygate scheme, including 705 apartments split into six blocks, was seen as a key project to redevelop a run-down site at the bottom of Manchester Road.

Now Bradford Developments (Yorkshire) Limited, a subsidiary of York-based developer Skelwith Group, has been placed into administration, according to Companies House.

Its previous company name was Aspire (Citygate) Limited between June 2010 and August last year.

Martin Chambers, director of Bradford Developments (Yorkshire) Limited, also confirmed the administration and the firm held a meeting of its directors yesterday afternoon.

Begbies Traynor, based in Leeds, has been appointed as the firm's administrators.

The regeneration project was originally announced in 2005, when Bradford Trident held a competition to find a developer.

The Citygate scheme was resurrected by the Skelwith Group after the previous developer, Asquith Properties, hit financial difficulties in 2008.

The original plans included a 38-storey glass tower, but this part of the project was scrapped in 2011.

Some revisions were made to the first phase plans as Bradford Council planning officers were concerned about the predominance of one-bedroom apartments and insufficient parking.

The new-look project was granted planning permission by Bradford Council in May 2012 to develop the former Reyner House parade of 1960s shops and flats. It was to provide contemporary and sustainable homes starting from £50,000.

Councillor Val Slater, Bradford Council's portfolio holder for housing, planning and transport, called on other developers to take on the long-running scheme following the administration announcement.

She said: "If the company has gone into administration, it's up in the air. The planning permission still remains.

"I would welcome another developer taking on the project.

"Administration happens in the world of development. People do overstretch themselves.

"The planning permission rests with the land, not the developers.

"We did, as a council, have some concerns about the actual scheme submitted by the Skelwith Group around the size of some of the accommodation they were going to provide. They did not fit in with our preferred accommodation sizes."

It also included the addition of 75 new homes as part of phase one of the development.

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The development was originally submitted as having 83 per cent one-bed apartments and 17 per cent two-bed. The altered scheme saw 59 per cent one-bed and 41 per cent two-bed units.

Initial plans for the site were granted outline planning permission by Bradford Council in September 2007.

The developer was also asked to increase the number of parking spaces from 28, and an extra ten were added to the final version which was passed by Bradford Council's planning panel.