Call for play area to keep kids safe

RESIDENTS are calling for a football pitch and recreation area to be created in a neighbourhood to stop youngsters putting their lives at risk by playing in the street.

Families living in Row Moor Way, Smallthorne, have raised concerns that children are in danger of getting injured by causing a hazard for drivers.

They have now launched a petition asking Stoke-on-Trent City Council to set aside land and money for a sports pitch close to the estate off Ford Green Road.

And they have already won the backing of local neighbourhood police officers.

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Resident Lisa Llewellyn-Hughes is leading the fight for improved facilities on the estate.

The 41-year-old mother-of-two, of Row Moor Way, said: "There is nowhere for the kids to go in the winter and when it is sunny residents complain about them playing on the street.

"There isn't a park close by, there are no cycle paths and the canal at the end of the street is a death trap because it is not maintained.

"Residents have started a petition to create a football pitch, because we are not the type of people to send our kids off to Norton Park, where you only have to look under the slide to see broken glass.

"It's dangerous for the kids to be out in the street but there is nowhere else for them to go."

Residents say they are upset because when the estate was originally built around £60,000 of Section 106 money was earmarked to create play facilities but these never materialised.

Neil Hawkins, chairman of Newford Residents' Association, said the original plans for the estate included a park.

He added: "The city council had about £60,000 of 106 money off the developers to build play facilities which never came to fruition and we have challenged it on several occasions.

"You can't go and build hundreds of houses and not put in play provision for young people especially when its mainly family housing.

"I can't see why there shouldn't be a pitch there.

"It makes you wonder what has happened to the money, it's not as though there isn't unwanted land that has not been developed on."

Residents have previously held a meeting to discuss their concerns, which was attended by PCSO Carl Radford, of Stoke North Local Policing Team.

He said: "We are aware of residents' requests for more green space for children to use near Row Moor Way and are working with them and our partners from the Safer City Partnership, to address the issue of children playing in the street."

Smallthorne Residents' Association has also been trying to improve the area by working with youth services to provide an indoor facility for children.

Residents will be updated on the campaign for a sports pitch and play facilities at a meeting with local police officers at Smallthorne Community Centre on Monday, March 25 from 7pm.

The city council was unavailable for comment.