Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Driveway being used as neighbourhood play area

154 replies

Chafl · 30/03/2021 18:04

I've just moved onto a new build estate, where most of the houses are off to the left or right of the main street, with neighbours sharing a narrow drive / access path (no pavement), which is unadopted by the council and for access only, not parking (don't have the deeds yet, but been referred to as this by the sales team).

Ours steps uphill and joins what is going to be a green area, when finished, and since the sun has come out, has attracted just about every child on the estate with their bikes, scooters, roller blades, skateboards..

I'm not just talking about neighbours' children playing in front of their own property next door, which I need to pass over to get home, (I am in the middle house) but loads of them constantly whizzing up and down outside, congregating and making it difficult to come and go.

The number of them means they encourage each other to keep going and won't move when you try to leave the driveway, so a quiet word with one won't really work.

I don't know any of their parents yet, and don't really want to get off on the wrong foot - be that upsetting them by asking them to leave, or allowing it to happen.

AIBU to think that it's only 'shared' for the actual residents and is actually our 'shared' private property, or should I (and the neighbourhood kids) be treating this like a public space?

OP posts:
StoneofDestiny · 31/03/2021 21:19

For every person saying 'awww its lovely that children are out playing in the street' there will be dozens more people whose lives are made a misery by it, because the idea of young children happily playing out, causing no problems, is often a long way from reality

This is so true, unfortunately..

prosecco13 · 31/03/2021 21:51

Wow it sounds amazing where you live! I wish where I lived had more streets like this

Rollercoaster1920 · 31/03/2021 22:42

Gravel. Skateboard wheels hate it. It was done to me as a child!

Allabouttheangles · 01/04/2021 03:23

Well I would hate the kids playing outside my house all day but I wouldn’t buy on a new estate for that reason. I think it’s fair that they’re playing outside they need to play somewhere and am I right in thinking it’s friends of the kid who lives next door? So they are fine to play there. However i think you just need to address the actual problem which seems to be that they’re being wide and not moving for you and causing an obstruction. Either talk to the parents or use your horn! They’re getting away with walking over you because you’re letting them.

EveryDayIsADuvetDay · 01/04/2021 05:25

joins what is going to be a green area

maybe when the green area is finished, they'll move there?

GnomeDePlume · 01/04/2021 05:33

IME it comes and goes in waves as the children age.

It can be a problem when for whatever reason they tend to congregate in the same place every time.

We had a neighbour who was very vocal about children being able to play in the street but would send them to play outside other people's houses rather than her own as she didnt like the noise.

Children and cars are never a safe mix. DD was knocked over by a car straight outside our house. It was the slowest RTA in history and DD's own fault but she was still left with a broken foot and soft tissue damage to her knee which gives her problems 15 years later.

skeggycaggy · 01/04/2021 07:21

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay

joins what is going to be a green area

maybe when the green area is finished, they'll move there?

The green areas aren’t for playing on, apparently. Rubbish IMO!
PurpleFlower1983 · 01/04/2021 07:41

Do you think it’s because the space is currently open? As in the houses opposite haven’t been built yet? It sound like a problem you might not have permanently.

Onlinedilema · 01/04/2021 08:13

I don't know what posters are finding difficult here. The road is an access road only for 3 houses including the ops. It is not a play area or area designed to congregate on. It is an access to the ops house and as such is not for anyone else, why would it be? Why the hell should she tolerate groups congregating there skating up and down her private road? She should be free to come and go as she pleases and nobody else should be preventing access or in fact be messing about on it.
Where I live there is a large green area. Kids still stand in the road next to it, leave their bikes strewn across the road and glare at you when you drive past in the road as if you are in the wrong. Never mind the fact they don't even live on my estate. Yesterday there were teenages smashing bottles on the green and leaving broken glass everywhere.
Op you have my total sympathy. I doubt very much if their parents would be happy to have groups of kids blocking their access and congregating outside their own homes.

spacegirl86 · 01/04/2021 09:46

What doesn't seem fair is that all the neighbourhood kids are using the ops bit. If you move in to one of these type places you run the risk of having kids playing but it should only be the kids from the 3 houses and their friends and they need to get out of the way of a car needs to move. What's happening here is just ridiculous! I'm not surprised you are unhappy. This is why local ones to us are so fenced off, I wouldn't dream of even walking through them unless I was visiting the house.

And the green areas not being used is also ridiculous, hopefully it is just as they are getting established and then they will be opened up. Otherwise where are kids meant to go? Is that not one of the benefits of moving to a place like that that your kids can play in a safe area out front (not the driveway) that you can see from your windows? Which is kind of negated if they all go elsewhere !

Onlinedilema · 01/04/2021 10:14

This is why people have gated communities they do not want groups of anyone hanging around outside their home.

jessstan2 · 01/04/2021 12:02

@Onlinedilema

This is why people have gated communities they do not want groups of anyone hanging around outside their home.
Absolutely. There are some gated groups of houses near me.

However we shouldn't need gates. All that is necessary is parents making sure their children don't run wild and annoy people.

I live on a long road where everyone has drives. You never see kids playing outside, only riding bikes to and from the woods and ponds down the road. Other than that, walking with parents, at the 'bus stop, not hanging about. There's laughter from back gardens of course but that is what back gardens are for and parks for those who don't have a garden.

DontSpoilLODForMe · 01/04/2021 13:04

@Otherpeoplesteens we also have the same type of set up as OP in our new build. But ours is freehold so we do own it. We have to allow neighbours through to get to their property but it is our land. Interesting to hear how different places have different situations in place.

There is a fence to separate us from the grassy area with private property signs on it but people still wander on the road sometimes on their walks (there's no path there.) Not sure signs would stop OP's problem.

It doesn't sound very safe for these kids to be playing near cars. We have lots of parks open here so kids tend to play there instead of near houses. It's a shame if they really have nowhere else?

Graciebobcat · 01/04/2021 14:25

I'm all in favour of gated communities. Keep all the anti-social twats gated in together.

jessstan2 · 01/04/2021 17:13

@Graciebobcat

I'm all in favour of gated communities. Keep all the anti-social twats gated in together.
Are you talking about Belmarsh, Gracie? :-)
FireflyRainbow · 01/04/2021 17:21

Your diagram makes it seem like they are playing on the hill, which I think has confused people. I'd be annoyed if I was you OP.

SofiaMichelle · 01/04/2021 17:48

@Graciebobcat

I'm all in favour of gated communities. Keep all the anti-social twats gated in together.
You send your kids to play on other people's drives, don't you?
PickleSarnie · 01/04/2021 18:22

I have a shared driveway on a hill on a culdesac. Over the years it's been a constant stream of kids up and down on scooters and it does my head in. It's clearly not the road. It's clearly part of my (and my neighbours) drive. I have kids and wouldn't let them go up and down it constantly because I don't want to annoy the other neighbours. Sometime the kids parents would be out there watching them go up and down repeatedly which was so weird because surely adults have a concept of personal space even if the kids don't?!

I found being a bit Victor Meldrew and repeatedly telling them it was our drive and could they play elsewhere worked. And motion sensor cat alarms - which I got to keep neighbour's cats poo-ing on front grass but also seems to deter kids.

PickleSarnie · 01/04/2021 18:35

^^the motion sensor only goes off if they go up our drive btw because of how it's pointed. Wouldn't have it if it got set off from playing on the street

PenguinBarnotBird · 01/04/2021 18:38

Where is the OP?? We need an update

PenguinBarnotBird · 01/04/2021 18:38

@Chafl any update please?

LampsOn · 01/04/2021 18:43

Please don't be that neighbour... let the kids play. They've been stuck inside in front of a screen for a year now. Let them have a bit of fun during the holidays.

Onlinedilema · 01/04/2021 19:23

Why should kids be playing in the ops private access land?
Tell your kids to play in their own garden/at friends or in the park. They absolutely should not be blocking anyone from getting on and off their own drive. I certainly would not want a bunch of kids outside my house on a private access drive skating back and forth all bloody day, every day. I certainly would not have let my kids do this either.

mackleless · 01/04/2021 22:23

@LampsOn

Please don't be that neighbour... let the kids play. They've been stuck inside in front of a screen for a year now. Let them have a bit of fun during the holidays.
they’re not her kids 🤷🏻‍♀️
CherryJane · 01/04/2021 22:35

This is a typical lay out on new build estates. Designed with absolutely zero love and little practicality but purely to maximise the amount of houses they can squeeze into a plot of land.

It is a shared access only meant for the houses directly off it. The confusion is because as has been seen in this thread the obscurity between a private driveway and cul de sac layouts as it is similar to both.

Usually these hard access have a lowered kern taking it from the proper road. Sometimes the shared access will be tarmacadam the same as the road but some developers will use a different surface such as blockading to help differentiate from the road to the private shared access.

You are probablybwithin your rights to move these kids on but in reality that can be tough. Can you get your neighbours who share the access on side with you too. Maybe ask in the sales centre if it still.on site for clarification and ask if the builders can put up appropriate signage, although I doubt they will of still.sellingbplots, as they won't want to.alert anyone to the problems associated with these style of estates. Its all about profit and sadly they made their money out of you now, so probably won't care too much for your issues.

Swipe left for the next trending thread