POLICE in Clitheroe have backed plans for a £55,000 facelift of playing fields in an area of town blighted by teenage tearaways.

Salthill Recreation Park, off Salthill Road, has fallen into disrepair in recent years with youngsters put off by flooding problems and an overgrown muddy path.

Police say the largely built-up area around the park has become one of the town's juvenile nuisance hotspots in recent years and a revamped park would help deter anti-social behaviour.

The park is now set to be transformed into a multi-use games area after a group of concerned local people, including residents, councillors, police and environmental agency Groundwork East Lancashire, formed the Salthill Action Group.

Formed just two months ago to cater for the sporting needs of youngsters in the north east part of Clitheroe, it has already secured £36,000 funding for the work and is bidding for extra cash to meet its £55,000 target.

But Peter Fletcher, chairman of the action group, stressed that no work will be started without full public consultation.

He said: "We are not going to force this on anybody -- nothing will be done until we've sent letters out to residents, spoken to them door-to-door and then drawn up the plans.

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Insp Bob Ford, geographical inspector for the Ribble Valley, confirmed that the Salthill area has a problem with anti-social youths. "There is a lack of facilities for young people in the area."

Salthill Action group has secured £20,000 from Ribble Valley Council's sports development budget, £8,000 from the council's culture and recreation grant scheme, £3,000 from St Vincent's Housing Association and £5,000 from the crime and disorder reduction partnership.

It now plans to bid for around £19,000 from Barclays Bank's Spaces for Sport scheme via Groundwork.