JANET Anderson is calling for the on-street boozing ban in Rawtenstall town centre to be extended throughout Rossendale borough.

The MP will be writing to council chiefs, magistrates and police to call for the tough measure after meeting worried Stacksteads residents.

Already she has been calling for tough action against groups of young people making life a misery for residents of the town's Hammond Avenue and neighbouring estates.

But following a public meeting on law and order and juvenile nuisance at the Acre Mill Baptist Church, in Stacksteads, she now believes further action is necessary. More than 100 residents turned up at the meeting which involved Rossendale and Darwen MP Mrs Anderson, local councillors Michael McShea and Christine Lamb, and Community Safety Officer Nick Stratton.

Mrs Anderson said: "The main concern was youngsters drinking on the streets. There was strong support for a ban on street drinking in Stacksteads similar to that in Rawtenstall town centre.

"There have been real problems with youths causing a nuisance in the Hammond Street area and elsewhere. The ban in Rawtenstall town centre has been a success and I want it extended right across Rossendale borough as they have done in Bolton. It's not a case of off-licences selling alcohol to very young kids, but older children buying the booze and passing it on to youngsters, some as young as eight."