COUNCIL staff are set to patrol Blackburn's Boulevard in a bid to rid the area of drunken troublemakers for good.

People have been plagued by the drunks who gather outside the Cathedral and openly use alcohol in breach of the town centre street drinking ban.

Last week the Lancashire Evening Telegraph called for more to be done to stop the problem.

Now council chiefs have unveiled plans to appoint uniformed managers for the bus station who will alert police when the drinkers turn up. The new posts have been created using money from the £9.75million Neighbourhood Renewal Fund windfall given to the council by the Government to help improve quality of life in the borough.

Around £1.4million of the money -- including an initial £20,000 for the bus station patrols -- will be used specifically for "early intervention and prevention" crime and disorder reduction.

Their main role will be to help co-ordinate bus services, provide advice to travellers on which buses to catch and make sure the bus stations at the Boulevard and the one in between the shopping centre and market are kept in good order.

The uniformed presence on the bus station will start when the first bus departs at 6am until midnight.

Coun Andy Kay, in charge of regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "If they spot any potential problems, they will be able to contact the police.

"Their presence should help people feel safer on the bus stations."

"Providing good public transport is very important if we are to get more people using it."

Canon Andrew Hindley, from Blackburn Cathedral, said: "At the moment, things are worse than they have been for a long time. Something has to be done which solves the problem for good."

The police have vowed to combat the drinking nuisance. They have the power to arrest anyone caught drinking alcohol in Blackburn town centre who refuses to hand it over.

A higher police presence is expected in the Boulevard area from December when Blackburn's police station relocates into part of the railway station.

In the meantime, CCTV is being used to monitor the drunks while more patrols are being made around the town centre.

Chief Inspector Neil Smith, who is leading the police's work with street drinking bans, added: "This is a positive step. Drinking isn't confined to just the Boulevard

"However, the street drinking ban has curbed a lot of the problems, and we continue to work with the council."

The drunks were blamed for a flooding incident in the Cathedral crypt after empty bottles blocked a drain.

Shoppers, councillors, publicans and the town's Chamber of Trade called for the police to crack down on the area after further trouble two weeks ago.

And a father also revealed that a drunken man had lunged at his 10-year-old daughter.