TEENAGERS have made a plea for more leisure facilities to parish councillors in the Welland area.

Ben Whitehouse, Faye Dyke and Joe Smith attended a meeting of Welland and Little Malvern Parish Council on Monday night to put forward their ideas.

Ben, aged 17, explained that young people wanted somewhere to go and Faye, 15, asked for the council to hold social events for them.

Ben said: "I'm speaking on behalf of a big group of us. We don't do anything wrong, but people in our village give us a hard time.

"We're always being moved on from one place to another and we need somewhere to go."

Ben suggested a shelter could be built and that a youth worker could be brought in to offer guidance and get projects moving.

The council has recently been awarded a Countryside Agency grant of £2,500 to carry out a study into what could be done with areas such as the recreation field, the village green and Spittlefields.

A working party will be set up to look at this, with members from all over the community. If projects are developed, additional money could be available.

The youngsters suggested that some of the money could go towards providing youth facilities.

Chairman Roy Locke said: "I think it's very good to hear the youngsters talking and when we have our first meeting, we hope we will have a get- together as a group and they will speak to us. It's not up to us. We can't do it unless more people like you are prepared to come along and help. It's your voices that need to be heard."

Welland resident Kevin Hammett has offered to act as spokesman for the young people and represent them at working party meetings.

Councillor Lindsey Newell said that the whole community should be consulted before any action was taken.

She said: "It's down to villagers to say what they want. We need to have a public meeting and get together to start the ball rolling."