RESIDENTS of the rundown Trafalgar flats are living a "Beirut nightmare", Burnley's council leader claimed last night.

Councillor Kath Reade said the tenants had been through every kind of hell over the years and were now living in a war zone style nightmare.

The remaining flats were falling down around their ears while marauding gangs of youths from other areas were causing misery.

Coun Reade said members of an election canvassing team left Trafalgar in tears after seeing what the residents had to put up with.

She said the residents now at last had the hope of living in decent housing only to be faced with tackling further problems.

Coun Reade said: "It is now time for the residents of Trafalgar to find some peace. They need it and they deserve it."

The residents have at least won the first battle in their campaign to get a footbridge demolished.

A large stone has already been thrown from the Burnham Gate bridge on to the roof of one of the new houses built to replace the sixties-built deck-access flats.

The footbridge was described by Coun Reade as a platform for vandals and peeping Toms. Colleagues on the planning and environment committee backed her call to ask Lancashire County Council, the highways authority, to demolish the bridge and to discuss with residents a new scheme for the safer crossing of Burnham Gate.

One of the residents at the meeting said that the footbridge, or any replacement, would just become a focal point for youngsters with their syringes, needles and graffiti.

He said any scheme to replace the road footbridge would be "hell for the residents".

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