THE artist behind Blackburn's problem-plagued town centre statues today told of his 18-month nightmare and revealed: "I've considered quitting".

Ian Randall spoke out as council officials admitted it could be August - more than a year late - when the scheme in Church Street is completed.

Mr Randall, 37, is still working on the largest and most complex of the five statues at his studio in Selby, near York.

He has been hit by a series of setbacks, including:

A prolapsed disc in his back, sustained while working on the statues, kept him off sick for several months last spring;

A blowout at the foundry caused a delay in shaping the metal for the fourth statue late last year;

Fibre optic power cables in two of the sculptures weren't long enough when they arrived to be connected in October, meaning they had to be removed;

Problems extracting an eight tonne lump of granite for the final statue - the rock kept on cracking.

Work on Church Street was completed in April 2002, and council bosses hoped that the five pieces of art - called Transitions and designed to reflect Blackburn's growth thanks to the cotton industry - would arrive at the same time.

But the mishaps left the project hanging by a thread, meant the statues only arrived sporadically and left Mr Randall working for free for the last 12 months to stay within the £240,000 budget.

Mr Randall said: "I could have walked away from it. I was so keen to get involved in this project that I didn't build in the usual safeguards so I could keep it within the council's budget.

"The back injury set me back last year. Then there was the problem with the fibre-optics on two of the statues which caused problems because we had to pull them apart and put new ones in.

"I can't wait to get them done. It has been a nightmare. The council has been disappointed but they have been good to me and accepted I can't go any faster.

"But the whole thing has become a nightmare."

The £240,000 sculptures - commissioned by Blackburn with Darwen Council with the help of European grant money - each depict a different stage in the life of a blooming cotton plant.

When fully installed and switched on, the sculptures - the centrepiece of the £2.5million Church Street regeneration scheme - will burst into life with water features and fibre optic lights.

They are made of a mixture of bronze, stainless steel, fibre-optic and stone.

Mr Randall revealed: "Until recently, I genuinely thought the whole thing would have to be left because I could not get the eight-tonne piece of granite I needed for the final statue.

"I looked at importing from China or somewhere like that but that was too expensive. With all the setbacks I've had on this project, I've had to work for nothing for the last year.

"In the end, I went back to the same quarry in Wales and persuaded them to do it. If they hadn't agreed, then I don't know if the final one would have been completed.

Coun Andy Kay, of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "It has been disappointing they haven't been here sooner but I've only heard positive things about the ones we have had so far. "