I COULD not agree more with Christine Evans (Letters, August 23) regarding children being the responsibility of their parents.

At the end of the day, parents should take full responsibility for the safety and the behaviour of their children wherever they are playing.

The point I was trying to make was that whilst the under twelve's have a legitimate, safe area, in which to play (neighbourhood play areas), they are less likely to be a nuisance to other people, such as Christine Evans, and can be more readily supervised by their parents who live close by.

If these play areas are taken away from them, then the nuisance arises because they will use unspecified areas in which to play. And yes, we have had trouble. We have had our gardens used as goal posts and roller blades and bikes both up and down our drives and across the pavement in front of the house. And when reasonably requesting they use play areas we have been told "we can play where we like and do what we like", and have had deliberate acts of rudeness, provocation and defiance and dangerous obstruction of our driveways when reversing.

The responsibility is then shifted from the parents to the motorist. So, we blame the parents and not the children, because, this is where the responsibility should lie.

Realistically though, children have to play somewhere. So, again, we say reinstate and update play areas close to the homes where children live. Perhaps Christine Evans made the mistake of living too close to a play area.

We chose not to live this close, as advancing age, growing infirmities and children, do not mix. Nevertheless, we do recognise the needs of all children and whilst the few are likely to spoil it for the many in the teen-zones, we still see the need for this age group to be catered for, but not at the expense of the more vulnerable younger age group.

Redditch is still "a better place to live", even if the aims and objectives of the Development Corporation are being eroded.

PM & RW Yardley

Milcote Close

Greenlands