GANGS of young people have been banned from the central seating area of Burnley Market after incidents of vandalism.

Signs warning ‘groups of teenagers/youths are no longer welcome’ have been put up saying police will be called if they fail to leave when asked.

The rest area containing sofas and chairs now closes at 4pm on weekdays and 1pm on Saturday’ because of ‘anti-social behaviour’.

A Burnley Council spokeswoman said the signs saying they had been put up as a ‘temporary’ measure to help staff deal with unruly youngsters.

Cllr Gordon Birtwistle, borough opposition leader and Liberal Democrat general election candidate, said: “These signs have been up for two months which is certainly not temporary.

“There have been problems with young people misbehaving there and making elderly shoppers nervous.

“Banning young people and closing it early, inconveniencing older and disabled shoppers, is not the answer.

“The market management needs to look at better supervision to deal with the problem.”

Burnley’s Labour MP, Julie Cooper, said: “This is a sensible interim measure but the situation needs to be monitored with a view to fully re-opening the area.

“I am not sure where Cllr Birtwistle expects the council to get the money to pay for extra supervision.”

A council spokeswoman said: “These temporary signs are in a particular small area of the market.

“They do not mean that anti-social behaviour or vandalism happens often. They were put up as a means for market staff to deal with any young people who were beginning to cause issues.”

Cllr Paul White, Conservative election candidate, said: “Penalising the youths, and other shoppers, is not the answer.

“The council needs to provide things for these young people to do.”

One sign reads: “Due to recent acts of vandalism, groups of teenagers/youth are no longer welcome to use this seating area and will be asked to leave by market staff failure to do so will result in the police being called immediately.

“Any CCTV footage gathered will be handed to the police, local colleges and schools.”