AN ANXIOUS parent has come forward to suggest that Govilon needs extra facilities for the area's youngsters.

Dean Foster who lives with his family in The Avenue in the village, said that it is generally appreciated that there has been a lot of anti-social behaviour on the estate in the past, but much of these problems have now been resolved with the majority of the 'problem teenagers' having now grown up and left the area.

He said, "The children who are left are slightly younger, aged around 11 years old, and any issues that we have can be resolved by talking to them as adults.

"In the past the school's caretaker used to allow the children to play football on the grounds provided they respected the building itself.

"This gave them the freedom to get some exercise, not to play on the streets and respect the authority of the caretaker.

"But since the school closed the grounds are now out of bounds to the children and now contractors have moved onto the site to construct homes for a local housing association.

"We all want our children to have variety in their lives and playing outside is part of this.

:They can spend plenty of time inside sitting in front of a variety of screens, but nothing beats being outside.

"Our gardens are too small for many children's activities and so the ideal situation would be to bring the play area closer to where parents can keep an eye on them.

"None of us are happy to allow our children to play out on their own on the recreation ground and I would suggest that the area at the entrance to the Avenue could be used as an alternative location.

"Currently the children have no choice but to play in the streets, but if a secured play area could be erected, similar to one at Porthcawl, which enables a ball to be kicked around without endangering the area surrounding it, that would be the best solution."

Dean said that he had lived on the estate for 15 years and that most of the residents had been there for a similar amount of time.

But he warned that action needs to be taken to resolve the issue as a number of new families have located to the area in the past two months and within a year the new housing could also be occupied by young families.

He added, "There are an extra 12 children on the estate now and more to come when the new housing is completed.

"It won't be long before we have as many children on the estate as there were on the school roll before it was earmarked for closure.

"I say allow the children to let off steam in relative safety and make use of the open space to the estate.

"In the meantime they have nowhere else to play close to home except in the streets. After all it's what children have been doing for generations."