A London company which owns the lease of the Petergate shop and office block could fight in the High Court to stop it from being demolished to make way for a massive shopping scheme.

London & Associated Properties Plc said today they were consulting lawyers about challenging a Government decision which would allow the banana-shaped building to be bulldozed, clearing the land for the planned £200 million Broadway scheme.

The Government said there was a compelling need for the shopping development in the run-down city.

But London & Associated property manager James Charlton said today: "We feel the scheme is too big and wrong for the city. We are consulting lawyers about the possibility of High Court action."

However, developers said they must be the "only people in the world" against the scheme which would revive the jaded city and bring top class retail. Richard Weatherhead, head of the Forster Square Development Partnership, said: "If they think it is not right for the city, they are the only ones."

Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton said: "This is an exciting major regeneration project which would bring people to Bradford and revive the city. It would be very disappointing if anyone was not 100 per cent behind it."

London & Associated Properties is considering action over a Government decision to allow Bradford Council to serve compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) on the owners and leaseholders of 89 city centre properties.

The orders would mean the demolition of the properties at about Easter time next year, but any payments to companies would only be based on the effect on business, length of lease to run and upheaval created by the scheme.

Bradford Council will publish the official notice next week of its intention to acquire the properties by CPOs.

It gives the owners six weeks to apply to the High Court to challenge the Government decision.

But the only grounds allowed by law are a failure by the Council to follow correct procedure and a wrong decision being made because there was no evidence to support the case for making the CPOs.

The Council's planning manager, David Preece, said today official notices were expected to be published next week, opening up the right of appeal.

He said demolition timescales were being arranged but bulldozing of properties was expected to start next year.

Demolition costs and compensation are expected to be paid for by the developers and they would lease the Council-owned land.

The development - which would include 60 shops, 1,400 parking spaces and two new public squares - would be the biggest building scheme in the city for 40 years. Debenhams and BHS are among companies which have signed up for shops