The number of people living in Bradford city centre is set to rise ten-fold within the next ten years.

Regeneration bosses today revealed that they expected the city centre population to top 7,500 during the next decade.

Developers are lining up to convert former mills into luxury apartments or build new ones on brownfield sites.

A massive £60 million city-centre housing complex with 500 homes - the biggest yet - has now been put before the Bradford Council's planners.

The ambitious apartments project at Beehive Mills, Thornton Road, would have five blocks of between nine to 11 storeys high arranged round a square and underground parking for 300 cars.

Bradford-based developers Landtask says the project is inspired by the district's historic mill buildings - many of which were designed around central areas to allow the loading and unloading of goods - but the Beehive Mills courtyard would be a planted area of green space.

If the project gets the go-ahead, the site, currently a haulage depot, would be transformed into a complex of one and two-bedroom apartments made from traditional stone and slate materials.

The developers also say they plan to make landscaping improvements to Bradford Beck, which runs alongside the site at Thornton Road.

Terry Smith, a director of Landtask, said: "It is a substantial investment and will be one of the biggest in Yorkshire - never mind Bradford.

"There will be big changes in the city centre over the next few years, it is new and emerging. The development world is always full of risk but we have confidence in the Bradford market and have already had interest expressed from serious investors."

Bradford Centre Regeneration, the joint venture company set up to spearhead the rebirth of the city, estimates there are about 780 people, excluding students, now living in the city centre.

But a spokesman said he expected that to grow to 7,500 within the next ten years.

Simon Cooke, Bradford Council's executive member for regeneration, welcomed the plans.

"What this demonstrates is the interest that the development community now has in Bradford and, obviously, whatever the outcome of this particular process, it is good news," he said.

Only last month another developer put forward plans for a 300-home complex at a site between Hamm Strasse and Trafalgar Street off Manningham Lane. That development, if approved, will include three 15-storey "chimney-style" blocks mirroring the city's textile mills.

Meanwhile West Park developers are still pursuing plans for an £8.5 million scheme in Little Germany. It was to have been called the Wave and, if granted planning permission, its penthouses will have panoramic views of the city centre - and a price tag of £400,000.

Although Landtask was only established last year, Mr Smith has worked on regeneration projects in Bradford before, many of them in Little Germany, and wants this new building to echo older ones surrounding the site.

"You have to reflect the history of the area and you have to give something back which reflects the urban grain," he said.

He acknowledged the project's height could prove a stumbling block, but he said: "We have yet to get into the nitty gritty talks but development of such sites only becomes commercially viable if they are of a certain size."

The Beehive Mill proposals will be considered by planners at a later date.