What to do about new estate we’ve moved to?

[Applepastry]

We’ve recently moved to a new build estate. It’s directly next door to a council estate (no issues with this as my mum was brought up on one and lots of my friends were and are from council estates. Everyone seems friendly enough.
My main concern is that all the kids play out in the street, I totally understand with the ones who are 7 or 8 +
However there are 4 and 5 year olds playing out alone, without any adult supervision at all. My DS is 5 and he doesn’t have older siblings. These children will often come and knock for him and he asks to play out with them when he sees them all out on the street. I have been going out with him, but he asks why I have to go, when none of the other parents do.
They all wander up towards the park which is around a corner and you can’t see it from the estate. When I’ve been up there, it extends quite far and joins on a stream and woodland. I’m not comfortable with my 5 year old going up there out of my sight.
Other parents don’t seem bothered and just say “Oh I wonder where G is…he must be at the park”

I’m not a helicopter parent, but AIBU about 4 and 5 year olds (one was 3) being out in the streets by themselves? Some wandering in and out of other houses and into the road?

I just don’t know what to do about my DS as he’s keen to be accepted in this new area and wants to play out with them. He’ll definitely stand out with me or his dad hanging around.

Statistically most children do survive childhood in one piece no matter how careless the parenting but many more things happen than abduction and murder.

As I said upthread, in the 50/60s we were out in the streets at aged five but within sight or hearing of mother yelling at you to come in for tea. When around 10 and did go further afield in the inner city streets and parks, bad things did happen e.g. flashing, bullying by older kids, stealing of pocket money, etc.

I can still remember one particular old git flashing - the revolting sight of his genitalia bulging out of his unzipped trousers as he was walking towards me in broad daylight. Another time we had gone for a day at the beach and had our money stolen, the bastard bus driver wouldn't let us on the bus without paying, so we three 10 year olds had to walk home for at least an hour in the driving rain. These experiences don't add to your character or resilience.

Unpleasant experiences are obvoiusly not ideal - but we have to place this in a context of the experiences we are now seeing as common - children becoming almost entirely sedentary (perhaps not the children of anyone on this thread - but ask any teacher and there will be kids in each class who rarely move/ leave home outside school) - children watching hours and hours of screens - children obese by 11

A third of british 11 year olds are overweight - through sedentary lifestyle and poor diet - we have some of the unhappiest teenagers in europe;

I wouldn't be happy with this - 5 is far too young to be unsupervised.

YANBU. I was born early 80s, I was allowed to play with kids in the cul-de-sac as there were a lot of us, all aged within a few years of each other, however we weren't allowed to roam away from the street, all kids looking out for each other and all parents keeping an eye on us. In the summer holidays, as dusk started we would all be playing in 1 garden together. We were ordered to tell an adult if we were going to another garden.

When my kids were younger, it's been a bit different, I don't know all the parents etc. So they stayed where I could see them.