Back in 1959, children in Burnley were robbed.

The council took a well-loved and much used “reckery” off them and included it in the playing fields of the new Burnley Grammar School.

Instead of being used daily and in the light evenings, it was used occasionally by the ‘Grammar grubs’. Since then, the school has closed and Lancashire County Council is now planning to sell the land.

Well, in these days of austerity, LCC will no doubt be anxious to get their hands on every penny they can.

It would be too much to hope that they would right this ancient wrong and hand the land back, and anyway those children are all grown up and gone.

But today’s children still use this land for formal football matches and fun. Adults walk their dogs too.

This land borders on the Ivy Bank open space which is one of Burnley’s wildlife corridors. It is a lovely area and especially welcome in a part of town which has no park.

I did fear that this land off Kiddrow Lane might become an industrial estate, but more likely it will be used for housing.

But there are good reasons why this land should not be built on. Where are the jobs for the householders? Where will the children go to primary school? Where will they play? And don’t forget that once houses are built on land, they can’t be cleared away in a year or two for something else!

Children in this part of town have already lost much of Sycamore Avenue playing fields. It is when children have nowhere to play that they are demonised and denounced as hooligans and vandals.

It is a fact that where there is open space, people are healthier. People using open spaces for leisure get to know each other and become a community. Nowhere to walk or play – no community.

I sincerely hope LCC will local people’s views and petitions into consideration. It is said that money plays such a part in planning our future while biodiversity, health and community life are under threat.

Avril Hesson, Burnley Friends of the Earth, Sycamore Avenue