A PIONEERING initiative giving boy racers a legitimate place to cruise is on the verge of collapse.

Police and council chiefs in Eastbourne were among the first in the country to give permission for racers to use an industrial estate for regular meetings, held every third Saturday in the month.

The move ended serious concern over racers in souped-up cars driving through the town centre.

But now the cruisers are threatening to move back into the town to their original haunts, including Hyde Gardens and Devonshire Place.

They say they are fed up with criticism from residents living close to the Lottbridge Drove industrial estate, who claim they are kept awake by roaring engines and screeching tyres.

Aspokesman for the Lottbridge Drove Cruise, known as Legs, said: "Since we moved out here in March last year, we have not had one accident.

"We do not think there is any way people can hear us in their homes. This is an industrial estate. No one lives there.

"There is another industrial estate nearby and a 24-hour Tesco. If people living nearby don't like noise, why did they move there in the first place?

"But now my colleagues are saying they are going to move back into the town centre. They just want to be left alone. They are fed up with the complaints and fed up that they are being hassled at the place that was supposed to be all right.

"If we go back into town, we'll be back playing cat and mouse with the police, as we were before."

Residents in the town centre have pledged to fight any return by the cruisers.

Devonshire Ward councillor Mark Roberts said: "There would be cross-party opposition to this.

"The cruisers moving back into the town is not the answer. With the town centre becoming more vibrant, there would be a serious safety issue. I am totally against it."

Norman Kinnish, director of planning at the council, said there was no official complaint against the cruisers.

He said: "I have spoken to the police and our joint view is that providing the cruisers do not cause a nuisance at Lottbridge Drove, we are prepared to tolerate the situation. We will not drum them out.

"But we will continue to monitor the cruises and we will respond to the issues as we find them by taking appropriate action.

"That could be simply having a presence there or enforcing against unruly behaviour.

"But 99 per cent of the young men and women are car enthusiasts who abide by the rules. We must not let a few ruin it for the majority."

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