BEING children's entertainers, it greatly hurts ourselves to have been to numerous local resident and PACT meetings to find such negativity in our local community.

The issue that has grieved us most is the nuisance teens that have been accused of being destructive and verbally abusive when challenged.

The problem areas that residents have concerns with are King George's playing field on Marlpool Lane, White Wickets on France Road and Coningsby Drive.

The residents at the meetings are complaining that the parks are a disgrace, police are now showing enough interest and labelling the young adults as all being thugs.

Surely if we tell these youths often enough they are bad, they will eventually start acting that way and live to their label and if the police come down on these young adults as hard as we understand the residents want them to, we will end up with convicted youths entering adulthood with no chance of decent prospects.

We should empower these young adults, give them a panel at these meetings and a voice.

We have already spent many hours talking to these young adults on a level they relate to and have found that all they want is a place to hang out where they won't get into trouble.

They should have the opportunity to express this to everyone with no fear from local residents.

The one comment that disturbed us the most, from a female resident living near the entrance to King George's playing field, was that she felt the park should be levelled and have two luxury houses built in its place.

Not only will this kind of attitude lead to the demise of our green belt but also discriminate against young adults and their right to leisure activities.

Having seen these youths they are thoughtless as opposed to bad, yes they can be noisy and their language can leave a lot to be desired, however residents calling the police and/or shouting at the youths to be quiet or move on will only cause rebellion.

As a community we should pull together and offer them an alternative rather than watch them drink cheap beer on a Friday night.

We are prepared to take our place in the community and have already offered to provide a youth disco once a month, a small step granted but a step in the right direction. We are struggling to find a venue for these discos and need help.

Maybe if we all work together, we can work towards a solution rather than shifting these youths form one open space to another.

SCOTT AND NAT

AKA Cheeky Money Entertainments