Plans to suspend metal letters in the trees in the Victorian square have been scrapped in the face of public pressure.

But councillors have voted unanimously in favour of the rest of the plan being moved forward and a planning application for the £3m scheme is due to be submitted in March.

Mike Brogan, assistant director of city projects, said the metal letters had been removed and the "performance area" would be a public space rather than a stage, which could be used for bands and plays.

Mr Brogan said: "The artwork was quite badly criticised – the big letters. We've removed that.

"The big mistake we made was writing 'performance area'. It isn't a performance area as such – it's a hard surface you can use for a variety of things."

When plans for the metal letters were unveiled, Aiden Turner Bishop, from the Preston and South Ribble Civic Trust, branded the idea "daft" and "self-indulgent".

Coun Bhikhu Patel, a member of the council's city centre committee, said: "People see this as our heritage and our history and they don't want that changed."

In the meantime, council bosses will need to iron out the ownership of the square to allow them to obtain the necessary funding from the North West Development Agency.

Currently, the council owns just half of the square, with the rest split between five other owners – the Trustees for Roman Catholic Purposes; Burrow, Muir, Bretherton and Cocker; Blackthorn Homes; Plazzania Limited and Lancashire Probation and Aftercare Limited.

The fear is that any one of these parties could give the council notice at any time and fence off their part of the square.

Mr Brogan said: "They could give us six months notice and say 'I want my land back'.

"That ownership issue needs to be resolved whether this scheme goes ahead or not. We need to speak to those people because it's in their interest."

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