TWO hundred jobs could be lost from the city if plans to demolish buildings behind Derby Conference Centre go ahead – the centre's managing director has claimed.

Arab Investments, which owns the land in London Road, has submitted plans to Derby City Council to demolish buildings connected to the rail industry.

In their place it wants to build 84 homes.

The company has not submitted plans to convert the conference centre itself because the building was granted Grade II-listed status in 2005.

The buildings behind the conference centre include bases for Catalis Rail Training, ATA Rail Recruitment and Ganymede Solutions, all which have links to the rail industry, either through training or recruiting people for rail companies.

Those businesses and the conference centre are all part of the RTC Group PLC, which employs 200 people on the London Road site.

The managing director of Derby Conference Centre, Mike Ebbitt, said demolishing the buildings behind the centre would pull the heart out of a successful business.

"If those buildings were pulled down the businesses would have to move elsewhere and ultimately we rely on their delegates so it could result in the 200 jobs here in Derby having to go elsewhere in the country," he said.

"That can't be good for Derby."

The conference centre itself was built in the 1930s as a rail training centre.

Mr Ebbitt said that if the training and recruitment businesses have to move because if their buildings are demolished, they would be unlikely to find alternative premises in Derby.

"Another suitable rail-orientated location would be difficult to find," he said.

"If an alternative location was found, it is likely that it would be outside of the East Midlands."

He said that the conference centre itself may be forced to close because it relies heavily on delegates who use the companies for training.

In particular Catalis Rail Training generates 20,000 delegates a year for the centre.

Mr Ebbitt said: "Long term we can envisage the main building becoming unusable and deteriorating substantially until it is eventually demolished or that the planning department is forced into approving a request to convert it into flats.

"No other company has the level of focus within the rail industry as the RTC Group, nor the ability to keep the building for the use it was originally intended."

Mr Ebbitt said he thought it would be wrong for Derby City Council to grant planning permission to a development which would disrupt a successful business, planning to invest in the city.

"We have invested more than £1m since 2005 in this site and we want to invest further. For example we want to invest heavily in improving the India building, creating en-suites," he said.

He has submitted his objections to Derby City Council.

And already councillors and residents in the Wilmorton area have made their views against the plans known on the council's website.

The plans for the 84 homes would be made up of 11 one-bedroom flats, 18 two-bedroom flats, 47 three-bedroom houses and eight four-bedroom homes. The plans have also been criticised by Graham Wild, a member of the East Midlands Railway and Canal Historical Society who led the campaign to get the conference centre building listed.

Arab Investments was unavailable to comment.