Give the kids a chance

IT'S time the youth of Uckfield were given a chance to prove they are not hooligans and thugs, a resident told protesters at a town council meeting this week.

Mr Raymond Firth, of Lealands Drive in the town, was speaking in favour of a plan to provide a play area for youngsters between the ages of 12 and 18 at Downland Copse.

'I have heard a lot about hooligans, thugs and the youth of today over the last few months but I could get hold of a group of youths who wish to have a positive input into this plan. Is it not time to give the youth of this town chance to prove they are not hooligans and thugs?'

Mr Firth went on to tell a meeting of the town council's environment committee that the thugs everybody talked about came into town spoiling for a fight from places like Crowborough and Hailsham.

'I am sure that if you give youth from the Church Coomb area a chance you will find positive results from it all.'

Mr Firth was so keen to see the plan proceed that he offered to help set up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme to keep an eye on the playground and what went on there.

Worried

People living around the proposed play area were worried about its effect on their property. They wanted to know what would be done to stop 'unruly kids' using the park in the middle of the night and were worried about the loss of trees and shrubs which acted as a buffer between the land and their garden fences.

They were assured by council environment manager Mrs Christine Wheatley that there were no plans to remove trees or shrubs from around the boundary and a large chunk of the area would not be touched because the council did not own the whole Downland Copse site.

Mrs Wheatley said floodlighting and lighting of any kind would never be provided and she said advice had been taken from English Nature, the Sussex Badger Protection League and a bats protection organisation about how best to clear the site and begin construction works. She said engineers would advise on the stability of the land.

She stressed that only phase one of the project had gone out to tender. That involved providing two level hard standing areas, one possibly of Tarmac and the other of grass. There was also a possibility of picnic tables being provided there.

None of the soil would be removed from the site, she said. It would be banked up around the edges and possibly used later in future development.

She also said at this stage it was unclear whether it would be possible to even begin phase one because funding had proved a problem.

'It will be a costly exercise because of access to the site,' she said. She was hoping to get prices back by the end of June starting phase one in September and hopefully completing in early October.

Phase two would possibly involve setting up some wooden play equipment and stepping logs which businesses in the town had offered to fund.

Crime prevention officer PC Malcolm Hyder said the idea of the activity area came about as a response to residents requesting something for local youths to do at the north end of town.

He said youths could be diverted to things like the Youth Zone but some didn't want formal activities, they just wanted a place in their own area they could call their own.

One of the worried residents asked whether it would be possible to hold a meeting at the site to talk in greater detail about proposals and PC Hyder agreed to do that.