OWNERS of a luxury home next to a park are determined that the nearby cockerels have crowed their last.

Michael and Judith Berry bought their new home in Whitaker Green, off Mount Street, Rawtenstall, last August, next door to Whitaker Park.

But the couple, and their children Fiona, 13 and Alex, nine, complained to Rossendale Council's environmental health department that the noisy cockerels were giving them sleepless nights.

When the council received the Berrys' diary of noise they ordered workers to move two of the birds.

Mr Berry said the racket is still continuing and he will be writing to the council to get the remaining two cockerels moved, leaving just the hens, geese and rabbits in the pets' corner near Rossendale Museum.

But the move has outraged park users. Longholme Coun June Forshaw, who is chairman of the Friends of Whitaker Park, said: "I am appalled that this is the first I have heard about this.

"I think before a decision like this is made the groups involved in the park should have been consulted. "

David Taylor, council director of community services, said: "We are liaising with the resident to see if the problem has been resolved."