POLICE have renewed appeals for parents to keep their children under control after trouble at Bold Venture Park.

"Youths have been congregating in groups and drinking," said Sgt Andrea Bradbury of Darwen police.

She said it was not the kind of place where teenagers should be gathering and they did not want the park damaged.

She urged parents to try to keep an eye on what their children were up to in the evenings and to ask them where they were going.

Residents in the area say they have had on-going trouble with youths in the park, especially over the weekend.

One resident on Manor Road, who did not wish to be named, said: "I've been here for six years and there's always been kids knocking about. I do hear them from the house."

And another resident on Belgrave Road said: "You can't really miss them. It's mainly at a weekend. They're noisy and sometimes you can see them all sitting on a wall. It did seem to get better when the police came to patrol the park.

"I do feel intimidated by them. I've got a little boy and they put the swings up so you can't use them and they leave bottles all over the ground."

Head of outdoor amenities at Blackburn with Darwen Council Tom Wilson said: "A new Friends of Bold Venture Park Group has been formed and our next meeting is on October 11 when we will be looking at anti-social issues. We hope police representatives will attend future meetings."

In the past security firms have patrolled places where youngsters gather.