PLANS for Blackburn's new multi-million pound police station are running three months behind schedule after engineers underestimated the cost of the project.

It was hoped the centre at Whitebirk would be finished by February 2002.

But now it looks like the work will take three months longer after police chiefs had to look at the scheme again to reduce costs.

Police chiefs had employed a quantity surveyor to estimate the final cost of the scheme. But when they put the work out to tender, estimates received were a lot higher than expected.

The scheme had to be redesigned and put out to tender again -- and police bosses are now looking at whether the original firm of quantity surveyors they employed could be liable for any costs and inconvenience they incurred.

David Brindle, Lancashire Constabulary's director of corporate services, said: "The tenders were a lot higher than originally envisaged.

"So we had to dispense with our original quantity surveyor, re-assess the build and then put the work out to tender again.

"We are looking at whether the quantity surveyor may be liable for inconvenience costs and the design costs. We are hoping that the completion date should not be delayed more than a few months.

"We looked at the design of the police station again to make it less complicated, but the square footage inside is about the same and we haven't compromised any operational facilities, the changes will be mainly aesthetic.

The £8m scheme includes the new station at Whitebirk and a smaller police station in Simmons Street for town centre officers.

The new building will act as a headquarters for the Eastern Division which covers Blackburn Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

The listed Victorian police building on Northgate will be sold off.