RESIDENTS have expressed fears about a derelict children’s home in Darwen.

People living near Bramble House, in Ashleigh Street, said they were worried the building was being used for anti-social behaviour and have called for action from the town council.

Coun Brenda Cronshaw said she had been told by residents that it was being used by squatters and vandalised by children.

She said: “A lady that lives near there came to see me and asked if anything could be done. It’s a beautiful double-fronted house, but no-one has been there for two years, or so.

“New flats have been put up by there, but no-one knows what is happening to the home itself.”

Efforts are now to be made by the council to trace the owner of the home.

A local resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “Bramble House has been empty for 18 months to two years and the residents around here are very concerned with all these empty properties.

“We don’t know who they belong to, and what is happening to them.”

Darwen town councillor Steve Duncan said the issue should be looked at by the council.

He added that progress was being made over another derelict building in the town, Eden Lee, in Park Road, after complaints had been made there.

In the nine months since the £1million nursing home had been closed, he said it had fallen into ruin and posed a serious safety risk.

Coun Duncan, a locksmith, complained in June that he had witnessed several incidents of vandalism at the ‘eyesore’, in the Whitehall area.

With police permission, he took it upon himself to padlock it securely.

He said the owner’s mortgage company had now been contacted about the issue.