TWO divisions of a York property business have gone into provisional liquidation, while a third has been placed in the hands of administrators.

The High Court has appointed Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery LLP as provisional liquidators of Skelwith (Leisure) Limited and Skelwith Leisure (Raithwaite Cottage) Limited, which are both part of Skelwith Group.

Baker Tilly says its role will be to secure all assets and protect the position of creditors.

The order was made in response to a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs and it gives the liquidators powers to enter the company's premises at Poppleton Business Park and take possession of documents, assets, books, records and computers, and exclude staff from the premises while this is happening.

Meanwhile, Skelwith Leisure (Raithwaite), which owns and operates Raithwaite Hall, between Sandsend and Whitby, has been placed in the hands of two administrators at KPMG, Jonny Marston and Howard Smith.

KPMG said the hotel was continuing to trade under the control of the joint administrators whilst a buyer is sought.

Mr Marston said: “Our initial priority is to ensure that the business trades as normal, with clients being unaffected and their commitments being honoured, while we assess its financial situation and consider our next steps.”

The Press reported recently that Skelwith was at the centre of a High Court battle over its stalled plans to develop land at Flaxby, between York and Knaresborough, where it once hoped to create a £100 million golf resort.

Its latest plans for the site, just off the A59, include building 2,500 homes new homes as part of a new "village" development but the changes to the masterplan, and a lack of building work to date, have angered local farmers the Armstrongs, who sold the land to Skelwith in 2008.

Baker Tilly said yesterday that Skelwith (Leisure) Limited was a party to on-going legal proceedings in relation to the Flaxby site. "The ongoing litigation is before the Court next week and the Provisional Liquidators should be able to provide a further update thereafter."

Skelwith was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokesman has been reported to have blamed the liquidation on the costs of the Flaxby legal dispute, and the pressure and resources it had taken up.

He was reported to have said Skelwith was working with the liquidator to resolve outstanding issues, and the liquidation did not affect other Skelwith companies and projects.