A BUS shelter that has become a magnet for rowdy youths could be replaced by a gateway to a new First World War memorial.

Work has now started to demolish the bus shelter at Toll Bar, Stacksteads, which has recently been used as for teenage drinking.

Coun Michael McShea has made plans for a peace garden behind the bus shelter which will have a memorial to local servicemen who died in the 1914-18 war.

It is hoped that funding from Lancashire County Council, Rossendale Council and businesses will help create a new, smaller bus shelter that will double as a gateway to the gardens.

Coun McShea said: "The new bus shelter will help make a more formal entrance to the peace gardens.

"Local businesses including Glengarth Construction, Brian Boys and Lyth Brothers have all been extremely supportive and have financially backed the project."

It has taken almost two years to raise the bulk of the money needed to build the monument and create a new entrance for the town's Peace Gardens, formerly known as the Blind Gardens.

The scheme is still £3,000 short of its £10,000 funding target. Work to create new railings, rebuild a wall and plant shrubs has already started.

Local historian Phil Broadhurst has researched the names of local men who died in battle. He developed an interest in those who fought in the war after visiting the Somme and Ypres battlefields.

He has now carried out painstaking research to discover the names of 120 soldiers from Stacksteads who have never featured on a memorial in this country. Their names will appear on the new monument.

Coun McShea added: "We are getting there slowly and have done well to get so much funding. We are still short and would appreciate help."