A 100-year-old sports club has been allowed to carry on using its cricket nets despite complaints from residents that youths were causing a nuisance.

Councillors rallied behind Ribblesdale Cricket Club, in Brownlow Street, Clitheroe, after some people in nearby Copperfield Avenue complained about anti-social behaviour.

The nets were put up in November 2004, but temporary planning permission granted at the time ran out last December.

Some residents had complained about foul-mouthed youths drinking alcohol around the nets.

The club, which opens for matches and practice between April and September, has now been given retrospective planning permission to keep the nets up.

Paul McGuire, the club's chairman, told Ribble Valley Council's planning committee: "We have been here since 1902 serving the local community.

"We want the nets to be used for what they were built for cricket practice."