BRADFORD'S skyline will be transformed under plans to demolish five high rise flats and replace then with a new housing estate.

The Telegraph & Argus exclusively revealed in May that Incommunities was planning on razing Windsor Court, Bolingbroke Court, Stuart Court, Tudor Court and Hapsburg Court, all between Manchester Road and Little Horton Lane.

They claimed to be struggling to fill the 315 flats, and that they were then only 50 per cent occupied.

Now the housing provider has submitted plans to demolish the buildings and replace them with a development of 63 affordable family homes.

In May Incommunities said they were working to re-house the remaining tenants, and that the buildings would be demolished within seven years.

Their new application says that the the flats are now 74 per cent empty, with many of the residents having been moved to other properties since May.

The company said the site's redevelopment would only start when all residents had been re-housed.

The new plans would see an estate of 18 two bedroom houses, 36 three bedroom houses and nine four bedroom homes built on the site.

The application also includes communal public areas, tree planting and 116 car parking spaces.

When the five blocks were built in the mid 1960s, they were the highest towers in the city However, in recent years the popularity of high rise flats has decreased.

All five buildings are currently surrounded by scaffolding, and many of the windows are boarded up.

The planning application says: " Incommunities Group has, over a 10 year period, seen a consistent lack of demand for the apartment units on their current site, which has led to the conclusion of the application to transform and regenerate the site into a more improved development for future generations.

"The scheme proposed will enhance the local area by developing a current brownfield site and also cater for much need affordable housing in the local area."

An Incommunities spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have submitted plans to pull down these five hard-to-let blocks of flats and redevelop the site for much needed family-sized housing.

“The proposed scheme would deliver 63 two, three and four bedroom houses for affordable rent.

“Our housing staff are continuing to work hard to meet the particular re-housing needs of individual customers. We carried out consultations with resident before reaching a decision on the blocks. Following this we have made one-to-one visits and held regular surgeries to help people with their re-housing options. Many customers have been successfully moved to other Incommunities properties and homes with other housing providers.

“We are continuing to match the remaining tenants to available homes in the areas of their choice. We fully appreciate this is a difficult time for some residents and we are very grateful for the patience and support everyone has shown.

“Only when everyone is successfully rehoused will we take forward redevelopment plans for the area.”

Lenka Jakubova, 31, has lived at the flats for five years. She lives there with her partner and two daughters, aged 11 and two months.

She said: “Incommunities have been trying to find me a new place to live for about a year now. I was pregnant when they started looking, and my daughter is two months old now.

“I still have the same neighbours I had when I moved in, and we’re all still here now. They keep telling me there are finding me somewhere to move, and I keep seeing people moving out, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to us. I would move anywhere, I don’t mind.

“The worst thing is that children are running around on the scaffolding at night. I live on the eleventh floor and have them knocking on my windows in the evening. When you’re sat on the eleventh floor watching television at 10pm sat in your pyjamas and there’s children banging on your window, it isn’t very comfortable and obviously it’s not safe for them.

“I hope we can find somewhere soon, but it’s going very slowly. Families with young children should be a priority. I think replacing the flats with houses is very, very silly. You have 320 flats here. Where are people who have nowhere else to go going to live? They should be trying to refurbish the flats.”

A decision on the planning application is expected in late March.