Can I use the playground of a council estate if we don't live there?

[Mummy1608]

Quick question...

I live right outside a really big council estate. (Eg I walk through it everyday as a shortcut to my local train station, that's how close I am and how big it is.) It's got a lovely playground in it with lots of cool climbing bits etc. Can I go there with my DD or do you think it's frowned on if I don't live there, because it's meant to be for residents? I can't find anywhere whether this isn't allowed, but it might be technically allowed but still frowned on? My next nearest playground is much smaller (although always empty) and a 15 min walk away.

Tldr can I take my dd to the council estate playground?

At this point all I can say to @HadaVerde is bravo 👏🤣 you are nothing if not persistent.

From the refusal to accept quite correct and common usage of the word park to the blanket extrapolation of their personal experience of a council estate to that of all council estates even in the face of contradictory testimony from people who quite literally work in this field; bravo, I say!

[quote WonderfulYou]@Legoisthebest there is obviously some council estates you can drive through but most housing estates you only drive through to get to that area, it’s not a through road.

Most council estates are roads just for that estate which is why they’re called estates. If they were on roads that you drive through they wouldn’t usually be classed as estates.

You can be in a council/social house and not live on an estate.[/quote]
This is the Loughborough Estate in south London.

It is definitely, 100% an estate. A fairly big one.

Many people drive through it. Plenty of through roads linking Brixton, Camberwell, Herne Hill and Oval.

I let my dc play in play parks in France etc when visiting 🤣
One across the road, no issues.
They are public spaces for all.

@megletthesecond

Of course you can. And public bins are for anyone passing to drop litter in.

it depends what you mean by litter.

@HadaVerde

Of course public playparks are available for all to use

Of course they are.

The issue is playgrounds for residents of social housing are not for public use.

People seem to not believe this fact but whatever.

i agree with you. really non-residents should not be going through a housing estate, unless they have business there. some places have routes that people use as a short cut, but i feel it is rather rude, intrusive. i am talking about traditional housing estates in urban areas. these are blocks of flats. it is irrelevant who owns them. i have never heard of a child's playground being called a park, esp as there is usually no grass. it is a small area with play equipment. and if surrounded by blocks of flats on an estate, is provided for the residents of that estate. i think some of the disagreement may be due to how terms are used. we are imagining different settings maybe.

And the award for "most insistent on being right, when they were irrefutably wrong" goes too........

If you download the Playground Buddy app you can see all your local parks and playgrounds on the map. We've probably visited all the ones within about a 15 mile radius from our house, we love exploring new ones! Nobody has ever had the slightest issue with us doing so.

@alexdgr8 no business being in a public space because that is what an housing estates are, a public space?

By your definition, when I am out on daily stroll, I shouldn't walk through an estate which is a public right of way because it's rude?? That's just laughable

Also whether you call it a park or playground, it's still situated within the housing estate on public land. So unless the council put notices up stating it's for residents only then it's free for the wider public to use!

really non-residents should not be going through a housing estate, unless they have business there. some places have routes that people use as a short cut, but i feel it is rather rude, intrusive

What? We can’t even walk on public streets now, because it’s “rude and intrusive”? Or use our local shops, or send our kids to the nearest school (there are two primaries in the estate I linked to above)? We have “no business” being there?

What planet are you on? Out of interest do you actually live on a council estate yourself, or do you just feel that they are “no go” areas in general? Estates should be as integrated with the rest of the community as possible, unless you want a “them and us” culture, which generally does not favour the residents of the estate…

Also leads to postcode turf wars around here, with kids from one estate “not allowed” on roads in other areas, on pain of being beaten up or stabbed. Whether they are in a gang themselves or not.

I am honestly baffled that you think policing who is and isn’t allowed to set foot on the estate is anything other than deeply unhelpful and divisive for the actual residents. I can only assume you don’t actually have much experience of estates, or live somewhere very leafy.

All this talk about estates and whether or not the general public should be allowed to walk through them is making me laugh.

I've lived in "estates" all my life. The first two were council estates and the current one and the previous two that I lived on were privately built. All open and accessible to all.

Where I am now is a 1930's housing estate . The actual name is The Estate so there's is no doubt that it's an estate!

It has through roads all over it. People walk through it , commuters park their cars there as it's only 5 mins from the station. There are also lovely gardens with gorgeous views that run the length of the estate that are also for anyone to enjoy. There is one mad lady ( an ex town councillor) who lives opposite the gardens who gets annoyed when "outsiders" use them. No idea how she knows who the outsiders are though. She had a go at one of my neighbours for walking her dog there the other day and she also got the local council to put up a sign saying that group exercise was not permitted ( it got taken down after a protest)

The first council estate I lived on was set out as three separate large squares accessed by a road off of the main road. Each large square had either a green in the middle or a play park. Ours had a green ( I think that was because our square contained some bungalows that were allocated to older people who wouldn't have wanted to live next to a play park)

All areas were accessible to any member of the public who fancied using then. As I mentioned up thread each council estate in my town had been built in a similar way to provide a safe environment for kids so touring the different play parks over the school holidays was quite the thing to do. It was the 70's though and kids were allowed out to play from dawn until dusk as long as you came in for your lunch and dinner.

I honestly don't understand how HadeVerde can be so certain that she is right about council play parks/areas/grounds ( whatever you call them where you are ) not being for public use.

My sister lives in an actual gated estate and even that has a through road that by a long standing agreement with the council is open for certain hours a day for traffic to pass through freely. At other times there is a security man who residents have the show a pass to before he will open the gate.

@alexdgr8 don't be bloody ridiculous.

I grew up beside a council estate.

There was a primary school, a doctors, a newsagent and two play parks.

Unfortunately the play parks were covered in broken glass so we couldn’t play there. But anyone was allowed in, the doctor took patients from the surrounding area, lots of neighbourhood kids attended the school and when it was cleaned we all used the play park.

We also used the through roads.

Would never have occurred to me that anything was off limits. Communal space was all publically owned and maintained.

@alexdgr8
So because I live on a street of mixed houses of various ages any one can walk down the road, drive down the road or park on the road but I can walk or drive through the council estate the other side of the High Street or the 80's Wimpey Homes estate that is next to my road? Because a developer built more than a dozen houses at once it acts as a magic force field to repell non residents? Okay. I will instruct my DS to start taking a massive detour to school everyday so he doesn't set foot on the estate oh no I'll.let him carry on walking on public pavements.

*I can't walk on the estate pavements/drive on the estate roads.

really non-residents should not be going through a housing estate, unless they have business there

As towns expand, often the access to a new estate is via an older one.
Many estates have main roads, complete with bus services, going right through them.

People can generally walk anywhere there are pavements. I often walk my dogs through neighbouring estates and nobody gives a shit (cos I clean up the dogs’ shit). And people from neighbouring estates walk though mine, cos it suits them.

I will instruct my DS to start taking a massive detour to school

And put a pair of blinkers on him so he doesn’t inadvertently look longingly at a playpark.

There is a council estate fairly near us that has a small playground and I’ve taken my kids there before. It’s not a particularly great one but it’s walking distance for my pram hating toddler so is less of an effort me and it’s near a train line which is of interest to them too.

The best thing is that the big, nice public playground also has a coffee shop, ice cream truck, surrounded by other shops and stalls etc and sometimes you just want to kill 40 minutes rather than have to be begged for ice cream and make going to be park into a big, expensive outing so this is where I’ve used the council estate one.

Someone did once approach me and ask how long I’d lived there. She was being friendly I think but there is a chance she thought less of me when I said we didn’t live there at all.

public bins are for people to drop litter in

@megletthesecond. You'd think so wouldn't you? My nearest bin is about 100 yards away at the end of my street. Nearly every day I drop a small bag of rubbish in it as I walk past. It's outside a cafe with outdoor seating.

A while ago the owner intercepted me just as I was about to do it and said it was a private bin. I said it had the name of the council on it. He said it was for the use of people who lived in the street. When I pointed to my house he said it was too far away. He added that it was near his customers and offensive rubbish was affecting his business. I couldn't believe we were having this conversation so I dropped it in and walked off. Maybe he fished it out.

I now make sure to put my rubbish in there and he glares at me. My offensive rubbish this morning was potato peelings, two egg shells and a crisp packet.

@limitedperiodonly I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with using a public bin and I disagree they are for street residents (why would I use a bin outside my house for one? Don’t people normally put rubbish in bins they are passing when they are eating / drinking away from home? Eg I give DC a banana on the way home and we find a bin to put the peel in) … but … why wouldn’t you put egg shells and potato peelings in your own bin? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone bag up home rubbish and take it with them out?

@TrashyPanda

I will instruct my DS to start taking a massive detour to school

And put a pair of blinkers on him so he doesn’t inadvertently look longingly at a playpark.

That could be hazardous as he's going to have climb fences and walk across the Big House's Estate (as in landed gentry type estate) so it might hamper his ability to spot any lurking game keepers but hey at least he won't be on an estate of 80's identikit houses.

The housing estate I live on can't be driven through. Certain streets are only accessible from one entrance.

Anyone can walk or drive onto it. Its just a traffic calming measure to keep the through traffic on the main roads and off the narrower residential streets. Its very near a popular tourist attraction (plus an airport)and the traffic can build up in the summer. There are no pavements.

The residents only parking is for the same reason. To stop people leaving cars there and making it unsafe.

If the playparks/parks say for residents only, they are for residents only. If not they are for everyone.

Of course you can walk or drove through a council estate, again unless it says private estate or residents only or something it's public land. Should we stop council estate children walking through the centre of town because they don't live on those roads?! No one would ever leave their house.

Public land is just that, public. For anyone to use. Parks are public facilities for the public, unless they say otherwise.

We can't just randomly guess which facilities are for the public and which aren't with no indication.

@thewhatsit why would I want to keep rubbish in my house?

[quote limitedperiodonly]@thewhatsit why would I want to keep rubbish in my house?[/quote]
Because what everyone does.

You have a kitchen bin/food caddy which when it gets full you put in your outside bin/recycling receptacle which the bin men collect on the designated day.

Some blocks of flats will have communal outside bins instead of individual ones that are usually kept in a communal courtyard type area.

Public litter bins on the street are not meant to be used by householders and businesses for their usual domestic or commercial waste.