A DEVELOPMENT company today said it may have to re-think multi-million pound plans for Burnley's problem-plagued Sandygate Mill after a major fire swept the former Lords Printers works.

Thick smoke enveloped Burnley town centre as firefighters from four towns fought yesterday's late afternoon blaze.

Rush hour traffic was disrupted as Trafalgar Street was closed when flames engulfed the top floor and roof of the three-storey building.

Firefighters used five pumps and a turntable ladder to tackle the blaze - the fourth in nine months at the empty premises - and were at the scene for four hours. Police are also investigating the cause.

Owners, Liverpool-based Mill View Developments, the firm heading a proposed £9million redevelopment of the Weavers' Triangle area, said they would be going to the mill today to assess the damage.

The company snapped up the former print works for an undisclosed sum a year ago, several months after Lords went into receivership and was wound up with the loss of 50 jobs.

At the time Mill View said the mill would become part of its overall strategy for Burnley and it was hoped work could start before the end of last year.

Since then there have been several fires, caused by vandals, but no development of the works.

Other projects owned by Mill View in the area are also at a standstill. Slater Terrace weavers' cottages, which were earmarked for conversion into a £2.5 million hotel and have had more than £500,000 of public cash spent on them, remain boarded up.

Fire-ravaged Clock Tower Mill, remains an untouched ruin, with plans for an arts complex and business centre still on the drawing board.

Today company spokesman Tony Martin said the company may have to re-think its plans for Sandygate Mill in view of the fire.

He said there had been no hard and fast plans for the mill, although a hotel or flats development had been proposed.

He said talks were continuing with planners on the future of the Burnley schemes.

"Progress is being made, although not as quickly as we would wish," he added.

Earlier this year a company spokesman said lack of cash among public funding bodies had held up plans for Burnley projects.

Possible customers for the Slater Terrace hotel had withdrawn and alternative uses were being considered.

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