A YEAR after Prince Charles gave his backing to an ambitious regeneration scheme for one of Preston's industrial landmarks, project planners have been forced back to the drawing board.

Centenary Mill in New Hall Lane remains derelict and plans to revitalise it into a leading manufacturing centre are still pipe dreams, no closer to fulfilment than a year ago.

Once one of Preston's leading cotton factory, it was targeted as a prime site to re-launch the area's textile industry and provide a venue for a fashion and design centre for Preston College.

It was promoted as a pilot project for the Regeneration Through Heritage scheme, organised by Prince Charles - who visited the Victorian building last year to promote the plans and throw his name behind the scheme.

The regeneration project has now been taken on by the Preston and South Ribble Development partnership as a primary project.

However the plans could be drastically altered after Preston Borough Council received inquiries from firms interested in using the site as an administrative centre.

Preston council's director of strategic services, Neil Rutherford, told the Citizen: "It is a prime site for a call centre, such as those used by large insurance firms and catalogue companies.

"There are very few such sites which have so much space available for them so it is no surprise that we have had several inquiries from such firms looking to use the site.

"It would mean having to redraft our plans slightly, but it could still contain such a centre as well as the textile industry."

Such call centres have become a integral part of modern firms. They are used either to improve customer services to centralise sales departments.

It had been hoped that last June's royal visit would have helped stimulate interest in the centre, resulting in private and public sector investment.

Mr Rutherford added: "We will reassess the overall situation in September. We still believe it can be a leading industrial site with strong connections to the textile trade."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.