AN eight-year-old girl came face to face with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw last night ... just six months after scoring a victory against him at a public meeting.

Schoolgirl Hannah Frost was seven when she gave the Blackburn MP a grilling at a meeting for residents in the Corporation Park area last July.

The schoolgirl was so fed up of balls being kicked against her home in New Bank Road that she asked Mr Straw for a 'no ball games' sign to be erected on the external wall.

The sign was put up just three weeks later.

And at a follow-up meeting last night for residents of the Leamington Road and Dukes Brow area, Hannah got the chance to meet Mr Straw again.

Hannah's dad Andrew said: "It was only three weeks after Hannah gave Jack Straw a grilling that someone came round and erected the sign on our wall.

"Since it was erected we have only had a few problems with balls being kicked against the house."

Hannah said: "They have stopped playing football. I was really pleased that the sign went up."

Donna Hall, executive director of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said that 10 signs had been erected in the area to combat the problem.

Mr Straw said last night it was "really nice and sweet" to see Hannah again.

And again it was the young people of the area who took centre-stage in the meeting held in Sacred Heart Primary School, Lynwood Road.

Young residents told Mr Straw, council leader Sir Bill Taylor, police Chief Superintendent Dave Mallaby and council officers that more facilities need to be provided for the area. It was the latest in a planned series of meetings to strengthen community links.

Sabbah Ahmed, a young woman from Lynwood Road, said: "People are complaining about young people being a nuisance. Why don't they spend the money on a youth club or sports club?

"That would reduce crime. At the moment there is nothing been done for us."

And Jim Floyd, 21, of Leamington Road, said: "Ten years ago my mum would never see me from Friday evening to Sunday evening. There were two or three hundred kids playing football all weekend in Corporation Park.

"But that stopped because the park became such a dangerous place to be.

"I think the park would be the best place to spend the money."

Other issues raised by residents included problems with fly-tipping in back alleys, unsatisfactory bin collections and parked cars potentially blocking access for emergency vehicles.

But many residents said it was a positive meeting with Mr Straw, the councillors and police officers even getting a round of applause at its end.

Pam Simon, chairman of the Corporation Park Group, said: "The council are to be praised for what they have achieved."

Mr Straw said: "It was a very positive atmosphere. I knew at the July meeting people were thinking, 'Is this going to work? Is this going to be a one-off?'

"I think that now we have got the process going, it shows the way forward for getting natural community involvement."