BEER-swilling, foul-mouthed youths are congregating around a Cricket club and making people's lives a misery, residents have claimed.

Now councillors have vowed to keep a close eye on the situation after granting temporary planning permission for the practice nets at the centre of the dispute.

Householders on Clitheroe's Copperfield Close estate have said youngsters have been using the nets as a hang-out to drink alcohol, play football and use foul language after local cricketers have finished using them.

Ribblesdale Wanderers Cricket Club has revealed that two 15-year-old club members, who admitted causing trouble at the nets after hours, have since apologised after they were threatened with being thrown out.

The club, which backs onto the newly-built development off Littlemoor Road, has said all matches and practices are supervised and players are not allowed in the nets outside strict operating times.

Brian and Cynthia Spencer were among four households who sent letters of objection to Ribble Valley Council against the club's application for retrospective planning permission for the three metre high nets.

Mr Spencer, 71, said the couple bought their £250,000 four bedroom detached house in April this year, but claimed he hadn't been able to sit out in his back garden because of the stream of bad language coming from the nets in the evenings.

The retired managing director said: "We bought this house in the knowledge that it backed onto a cricket club, and we have no problem with people playing the game and enjoying themselves.

"But we will not be held to ransom by young kids behaving yobbishly. We can't invite people to sit in our garden because we're embarrassed by the constant swearing. The nets seem to attract the worst element of youngsters from round here."

Councillors voted to grant temporary consent, with officers to monitor the nets during next year's cricket season. Other conditions included restricting the use of the nets to between 9am and 9pm on practice days Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and on match days.

Dennis Birch, president of the club, said: "This club has been here for more than 100 years and we've never had problems before. As soon as we heard about the bad language we dealt with some of our members who were responsible.

"However, there are some non-members who climb over our front gate and have hung around the nets causing bother. We keep an eye out and will call the police if there's any trouble, but other than employing a nightwatchman I don't know what else we can do."

Police said they had no record of complaints about the area around the nets.