NEW taller security lights are set to be installed at a bowling club so yobs cannot reach up and smash them.

Earby Memorial Bowling Club wants to move a farmer’s security lights to its green in Sough Park because the current ones on top of the pavilion are a magnet for vandals.

Members have asked Pendle Council for financial help to install the new equipment, which would also enable them to play bowls after dark.

Town hall bosses hope to secure £2,420 from the Lancashire Partnership Against Crime to protect the club, and approve another £2,000 for maintenance.

The lamps, on columns out of reach of yobs and vandals, are being offered to Earby Memorial members by a local farmer.

Kieron Roberts, Pendle recreation development chief, said: “Youths use the seclusion of the park to drink alcohol and generally cause a nuisance. Their presence deters other people from using the park.

“There is frequent damage to the pavilion and other equipment. Most recently this was severe and took quite a lot of clearing up.”

The latest vandalism led to wiring of the current lights being damaged.

Mr Roberts said paying to install the new lighting would ‘kill two birds with one stone’, by deterring vandals and allowing Earby Memorial to play at night.

The bid has also been backed by police in West Craven, who are concerned about the level of anti-social behaviour at Sough Park.

Council officers have drawn up a LANPAC application in a bid to win a grant to pay for the new lights.

The move to submit the application, along with the £2,000 for maintenance of the lights, could be approved by members of the West Craven committee tomorrow.