PLANS to create a youth shelter in Accrington will be decided by residents.

Their feedback about the use of a portable youth shelter will be used to decide its location after £3,000 was given to the Hyndburn Youth Council to create somewhere new for teenagers to hang out.

Members of the the Youth Council are confident they can turn the scheme into a winner -- especially after Princess Anne gave it her backing during her visit to the town two weeks ago.

Like other areas in Hyndburn, Accrington suffers from what police refer to as juvenile nuisance incidents, problems which occur when youngsters annoy residents but often aren't actually committing offences.

One solution has been to create youth shelters where youngsters can congregate in a safe place without annoying people.

The Hyndburn Youth Council -- which is made up of teenagers from all of Hyndburn's high schools -- won the grant from the Accrington Area Council to install a youth shelter, but now have to consult with the residents to see where they would like it to go.

Suzanne Christie, 16, a pupil at St Christopher's High School, said: "We want to try it in different areas because we don't want to end up putting it in the wrong place.

"It will give youngsters somewhere to hang out and take them off the streets.

"We told Princess Anne about it when she came to New Era and she seemed very impressed.

"She asked if it was a good idea to have so many people together in one place but we said we thought it would work.

Fellow Youth Council member Johnson, 15, also from St Christopher's, added: "We are taking everyone's suggestions on board."

County Councillor Dorothy Westell said: "We need to move quickly on this. Other areas have leapt ahead of us. This is a good scheme and we need to be providing it quickly for the benefit of youngsters."