TRURO residents have said one of the city's children's play areas is like something out of a Liverpool "no-go" zone. Jon Sparks, who lives at Chy Velah Ope, said he was disgusted with the play area behind his home, which is covered in broken glass and covered in ragwort.

He said: "It's atrocious, disgusting. I won't even walk the kids through here. I don't know what they are going to see in terms of bottles and people. Someone threw pallets into my back garden. It's a real gathering point for people in the evenings. I would rather see a house built here, you wouldn't normally expect a parent to say that."

Lyn Richards, another Chy Velah Ope resident said: "I have been through to county highways, the county council, district council, Defra, and nobody can do anything because we cannot find out who owns the land. The ragwort and broken glass are in a children's play area, and children being children can play with it.

If it can kill a horse, it could badly damage a child but nobody's prepared to do something about it for us. If a child dies through it people are going to start shouting about it, but the authorities don't help. The play area was owned by a developer who put the play area there so he could build the houses but maintenance has fallen short over the last two years. The play area has been sold on to someone else but we don't know who."