HEADS should roll over the £20million "flop" of a council call centre that "promised the earth and delivered dust", critics have said.

The Red Rose Hub was supposed to be a flagship project to handle all council inquiries from across Lancashire.

But the Hub's Preston call centre, which opened in July 2005, has been beset with IT problems, still only houses 40 people when it was designed for 180, and only handles 60 per cent of calls instead of the 80 per cent target.

Opposition councillors said it proved the county council's Labour administration could not deliver big projects and that resignations should follow.

An internal probe that reported its findings this week has found a number of failings with the centre.

It stated: "This project has suffered from a lack of clear and strong day-to-day management and leadership.

"The almost complete lack of elected member involvement for at least two years has meant that there has been insufficient accountability." It said the project was regularly held up as a flagship by the council.

"However, despite this, there appears to have been a lack of dedicated time and support, both officer and councillor."

Coun David Whipp, leader of the LibDems on the council and executive member for resources at Pendle council, said: "We would expect resignations from cabinet members.

"I think, deservedly, there ought to be a massive public outcry about this."

A lack of clarity about what was required "means we have a main computer system that may never do what we want it to do."

The report stated that the relationship with Hertfordshire-based Northgate, the computer firm handling the software, "had not been easy or comfortable for each side."

Coun Doreen Pollitt, deputy leader of the council, who is now overseeing the project, said she did not intend to have a witch hunt of those who had managed the Hub's implementation.