Two individuals have lodged separate appeals with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport against its decision not to grant the historic building listed, or protected, status.

The move comes as a businessman passionately opposed to the cinema's demolition claimed a mystery property investor was prepared to buy it for £3m.

John Pennington was speaking as Harrogate-based architects and designers SDA Jackson Calvert, who work for the Bradford Odeon Rescue Group, (BORG), released a new visual of how the building might look if their alternative plans went ahead.

The rescue group plan shows a third domed tower to the Thornton Road elevation, complementing the two existing ones.

It wants to reinstate the auditorium, ballroom and restaurant, provide a 200-vehicle car park and a 132-bedroom hotel.

But the group faces a major obstacle in the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, which owns the city centre building and has signed a legal agreement with developers Langtree Artisan to redevelop it.

Bradford Centre Regeneration, (BCR), wants to see a £55m development of offices, apartments and a hotel called new Victoria Place, but no planning application has yet been submitted.

Work began last week on an asbestos and structural survey of the building which is due to last for around three months.

Mr Pennington said: "BCR has had six years in which to progress the development and has not laid so much as a single brick. I hope our plans are taken seriously, they deserve to be.

"People have underestimated how much the Odeon is valued by the people of Bradford. We even have a legendary operator ready to sign up for the proposed 700-capacity nightclub who will put Bradford back on the clubbing scene. This iconic building will have something for everyone."

BORG chairman Norman Littlewood added: "We want to make the Odeon the People's Palace and form a charitable trust where the community can have financial involvement large or small, individuals or businesses, indeed we already have had offers."

Bradford Council's executive member for regeneration, Andrew Mallinson, said he was fed-up with the endless delays which he said were doing the city no favours.

He said: "It (the redevelopment) has been hampered unfortunately by BORG. All this is adding more and more delay to the project at a time when the economic climate is very difficult. If it had not been for them we would have had a planning application in by now.

"We have tried to be sympathetic to their views but I am absolutely fed-up. If I had the keys to a bulldozer it would be down by now. The longer the situation is allowed to continue the more it is to the detriment of the city centre.

"Having said that, I would be very interested to look at these proposals and talk to the mystery developer."

The director of environment at Yorkshire Forward, Jan Anderson, said: "We undertook an open competition for development proposals for the Odeon building in line with UK and European regulations and laws governing procurement.

"As a result of that open competition, on which there was public consultation, we chose Langtree Artisan as our preferred developer.

"Legally, we cannot now, and do not wish to, walk away from that statutory procurement process and follow a completely different tack. The Government does not allow bodies like regional development agencies to pursue any procurement route other than open competition in these cases."