RESIDENTS fear a proposed shelter for teenagers will not solve problems caused by gangs of young people who gather in their town.

Householders in the West End of Oswaldtwistle have made 127 juvenile nuisance complaints to police during the past year.

They will meet crime prevention officers and Hyndburn Council workers tonight to discuss plans for a shelter to provide a base for young people to meet.

Plans are for a design similar to a bandstand to be built on land near the West End Community Centre.

It may be equipped with a basketball hoop and painted with football goal-posts or cricket stumps.

Organisers hope it will go some way toward tackling the youth problem, but residents believe it will not stop gangs causing trouble.

Householder Craig Etherington said: "We are all totally against the idea.

"There are kids here who are meeting from all over Accrington and Blackburn who are swearing, throwing things, urinating in public, blaring out music and covering everything in graffiti.

"They've only just built a community centre here and we don't see how building a shelter will help any further."

Sergeant Graham Eccles, of Accrington police crime prevention department, said: "There is a juvenile nuisance problem in many parts of East Lancashire and the West End of Oswaldtwistle is a particular hotspot.

"These young people have nowhere to go and nothing to do.

"The idea is to provide them with a place of fun where they can meet and where youth services can have some input."

He said local businesses in the region were helping to fund the project but it still needed about £2,000 to get off the ground.

The public meeting is at 7pm tonight in West End Community Centre.

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