CAMPAIGNERS have threatened to go on hunger strike to fight wide-scale demolition and redevelopment in their corner of Nelson.

The threat came after Ghulam Rasool, chairman of the residents' committee in Nelson West, met the chief executive of Pendle Borough Council, Stephen Barnes, to discuss the matter but he said he and the other protesters were not happy with the outcome.

He said: "We will go on hunger strike if the Council does not listen to us. They are just ignoring us and playing games.

"They say they are demolishing the homes for the sake of our health, and in a two-hour meeting they could not give us another answer which we were happy with. We are living in the heart of the town centre and will have to go further away.

"If we have to leave this area, we will think about leaving Nelson and going somewhere else where we are not going to be bulldozed in the next 25 years.

"Our houses are better than any others in the area. I want them to renovate the area.

"Admittedly some of the streets need to be demolished but by giving people £13,000 for their homes, how will they get anything else?"

Whitefield ward Councillor Rashid Qadri organised the meeting between the two parties.

He said: "I thought it went quite well. If Mr Rasool wants to go on hunger strike we cannot stop him but the chief executive clearly informed them that the decision had been made by full council and that part will be cleared and the remainder improved."

The group warned they would protest every Friday until one week before the public objections had to be submitted and if by then the situation is still the same they plan to go on hunger strike.

They will take their banners and placards to the Town Hall again this Friday and plan to continue protesting until April 9.