HAS the wind been taken out of the sails of St Annes Square regeneration?

It was supposed to take a few months, but all-round, St Annes Square redevelopment has taken more than one year.

The first sod was cut on Valentine's Day 2000 where scores of school children released red balloons bearing the slogan "Put the heart back into St Annes".

And the public was told the first phase, out of four, of the redevelopment of St Annes Square should have been finished by the summer.

Yet, although the workmen have now all packed up and gone, part of the redevelopment is still fenced off.

And plans to build huge windbreaks at the top of the square in the shape of ship's sails are on hold.

David Wilkinson, principal planner for the town centre's in the Fylde, explained the sails were never part of the original Phase One plans.

"The gateway features are still very much in a design phase," he explained.

"We need to study several things such as the wind speed down the square and how the wind break will affect that. "The designer is now working with BAE Systems on the designs.

"The timescale of this part of the project is subject to finalising."

Now the next phase of development is under discussion, with talks with private car parking companies.

"We are in the process of of looking at the funding for the next phase of the redevelopment," said Mr Wilkinson.

"We are looking into a private financing initiative.

"The idea is a car park operator would provide capital for the construction of the parking facilities and then levy car parking charges."