CHILDREN on a Bolton Council estate have been left kicking their heels again after their DIY playground was destroyed by vandals.

As reported in the Bolton Evening News in April, creative kids on the estate at Hunger Hill used their Easter holidays to build a playground on waste ground behind Knutshaw Crescent.

They begged and scavenged equipment to build the playground. Now they are upset because vandals have destroyed it and left them with nowhere to spend their spare time.

Parents on the estate are now campaigning for a proper playground.

A petition signed by about 150 residents has been prepared for presentation to a local councillor.

Mrs Jean Mulvaney, 50, of Hunger Hill Avenue, is leading the campaign with neighbour Elaine Barlow, of Knutshaw Crescent, who has three children.

Jean said the children had been very disappointed by vandalism on their playground. And she called on Bolton Council to build a proper facility on the estate for safety reasons.

Her son Gareth, aged 15, worked on the playground when it was built in April.

She said: "At the moment children have to cross Wigan Road to play at the nearest park on Taywood Road.

"The younger children could get knocked down crossing the road which is often busy with motorway and through traffic.

"It is only through luck and parents keeping their eyes open that nobody has been killed up to now.

"There are a lot of kids on the estate but they have nowhere to play. The playground they built was not locked up. The kids watched it for as long as they could every day but had to come home eventually.

"They can't play on the back field because it is full of rubbish and the grass is knee high. They play football on street corner after street corner. We want something doing and won't let go until we get results."

A council spokesman said: "We have no immediate plans but we can meet with the residents to discuss the issue.

"They should write to John Shepley, Head of Landscapes, at the Wellsprings, outlining their problems.

"We cannot promise anything but we will look into it and discuss it with them."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.