The chav capital of East Lancashire...

Rawtenstall, Haslingden, Bacup and Waterfoot have been listed on the popular website www.chavtowns.co.uk Chav is often a derogatory term for those young people who typically dress in tracksuit trousers, hooded tops, and checked baseball caps.

However the tag is an unwelcome one according to civic leaders in the Valley, who today spoke out against the website.

Rawtenstall councillor Tony Swain said "With everything that's happening in Rossendale at the moment I feel it's time for optimism rather than pessimism.

"Rossendale is a nice place and I don't think that websites like this one do anything to help the image of the area."

The author of the item placed on the website, referred to as Iceman, said: "Rossendale is well versed in the Anti Social Behavioural Order (ASBO) aspect of the law. Gaining an ASBO fast tracks your chav rating and can gain you instant respect in the scum areas of the Valley.

"Rawtenstall is the favoured social meeting ground as it houses two clubs, both of horrifying bad taste.

"Bacup is often described as a "right rough hole", and quite simply is. Bacup has now been reduced to contain only pubs, as at 12am various pubs transform into Rossendale's MGM Grand and there is guaranteed fighting all night long, depending on what scale of fight you wish to see, you can adjust the establishment you attend.

"Bacup also offers one takeaway that remains open for the late trade.

"Having set foot in there, you'll find yourself questioning the dcor, however while waiting for your kebab, you will no doubt observe the indifferent clientele and fully understand that any wealth spent on new dcor would be a catastrophic waste.

"Haslingden is the ultimate hole. No one travels to Haslingden for a night out, and thankfully no one from Haslingden travels out of it.

"Waterfoot, a previous haven for underage drinking and middle of the road fighting, now wallows like an OAP who has just buried their lifelong partner."

Although one self-confessed chav Shane Russell, 18, from Barnes Avenue, Rawtenstall, defended the subculture and said the town's tag was nothing to be ashamed of.

The teenager, clad in a stereotypical shiny shellsuit, trainers and baseball cap, said: "There are a lot of chavs here, in the shopping centre, the market, all over. I know chavs - nearly all of my mates are and I get called it all the time.

"Why? Because I wear new clothes and hang out in a big gang."

But the sports student at Burnley College insisted: "It doesn't bother me one bit. We are not doing anything wrong."

The term chav is recognised as a buzzword in a new reference book published by the Oxford University Press.

Susie Dent's book Larpers and Shroomers: The Language Report lists popular new words.

She said that the term's current negative connotations could change, adding: "I think we may find that because a lot of people have been quite outraged by it, it starts to transform itself into something quite positive."