THE new owner of a mill gutted by fire in April wants to bring new growth to the area -- by demolishing the building and turning it into a garden centre.

It was feared that the hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of damage caused to Sykeside Mill, a grade II listed building in Manchester Road, Haslingden, could have scared off potential developers.

But Leeds-based estate agents SHM Smith Hodgkinson still sought a buyer on behalf of the mill's owners, RS Wills, who are in receivership.

Without the building the land is still in a prime location, near to dual carriageways and the M65 and M66 motorways.

And the developer, who has not yet been revealed, sees it as the ideal place for a garden centre.

A Rossendale Borough Council planning officer confirmed they had received two applications in the past fortnight. One to demolish the building, and one to build a garden centre.

He added that each application could take eight weeks to be processed.

Peter Alderton, a spokesman for SHM Hodgkinson, said their instructions were to dispose of the property whatever the condition.

"We have agreed a sale of the property and there are planning applications going through at the moment," he added.

"The developer wants to demolish the building and create a garden centre. I cannot release a name at the moment."

He said he could not reveal how much the sale cost, nor how much the developer would be spending.

The mill had been derelict for two years before the fire which raged for five hours and severely damaged the property. Station Officer Peter Ashworth predicted at the time it would have to be demolished.

Police said that the mill was a place where juveniles gathered, and they believed youths were responsible for the blaze.

Some were questionned but no one was charged with causing the fire.