How old to play outside ?

[BurritoSquad]

I understand the answer will vary greatly depending on where people live ect but I was wondering at what age it's usually fine to let kids play out unattended ?
My eldest is 8 and says all of her friends are allowed to play out in the streets and if we go for a walk to the park / shops ect on a warm day we do always see at least one or two of her friends out with no adults . We live in an old mining town with really long colliery rows of houses and whilst they're not main roads , cars do go up and down them . The way the houses are set out I wouldn't be able to see her from my house even if she was just in our row , her friends live a few rows across though and this is where she's asking to go .
I trust her to be sensible as far as an 8yo could be but I do have reservations and dh says he doesn't think it's a good idea to let her . Also if we let her , her sister who is 6 would also want to go with her . Are we being overprotective or is it normal to just let her in the yard ? I feel bad for her because when I was her age I was out for hours at a time with my brother and our friends , though we lived on an estate that was built differently and everyone knew each other .

If you think she's sensible enough to cross the roads and not going into anyone's house you don't know and to only play on the street I think 8 is a good start age to be playing out personally.

You give it a trial run and see how she goes, maybe walk round and check on her after 20 mins the first few times.

Regarding the younger child I'd just tell her that when she's 8 she can play out too bit for now she's too young, although I know that is easier said that done!

What's DH worried about?

Thanks for the reply @GreatDuckCookery !
I think his concerns are really that the town in general is a bit 'rough' and there's been a few incidents in a park ten minutes away involving violence from older (but not by much!) girls . Dd wouldn't be going to the park because it's across a main road but it's still nearby . He also works from mid afternoon most days and if she were to not come home on time ect I'd be traipsing the streets looking for her with our other three kids . He wasn't allowed to play out until he was much older and by that time he used to just sit in the house and play video games .