RESIDENTS of a Chorley village are fighting back against litter louts and vandals who they say have left their estate like the scene of a riot.

The streets of Astley Village have become a target for gangs of youths who have left broken bottles and rubbish strewn around shops.

Vandals have also caused damage to property in the village by destroying street signs.

Now residents, who formed an action group a year ago, have decided to tackle the problem at its source by trying to provide youth facilities in the village.

Astley Village Action (AVA) has applied for a National Lottery grant to provide two youth workers and equipment worth £1,000.

Members are also liaising with landlords to see if they can use one of the village's empty properties as a meeting place.

Paul Matthews, chairman of AVA and the village's parish council, said: "There's no place for the young people to meet and they tend to congregate under the canopy of the shops or under the subway.

"If we can give them a safe and supervised environment a lot of the problems will go. Astley Village is a great place to live, but it needs all the residents to work together to try and improve things. Only by real community effort will we resolve the problems in the village centre."

Chorley borough councillor Peter Malpas has also stepped in to try and get the area cleaned up and is urging residents to contact the police if they have information on the culprits.

Mr Malpas says it is not the first time he has asked the council to do something about the problems in the village.

"It's been going on for an eternity. There's just litter everywhere and probably eight or nine street signs have disappeared in the last two or three weeks. The villagers are getting fed up," he said.

Mr Malpas told The Citizen the council had sent a team round to clean up the village on Monday (November 19) morning.

The next meeting of AVA is in the village's community centre at 7 pm on January 8 and all are welcome.