YOUNGSTERS broke into an unsafe Greenock playpark because they had nowhere else to go, claim activists.

But children in Pennyfern are so determined to continue playing football in the run-down playpark they have joined a neighbourhood committee and convinced owners Oak Tree Housing Association to restore it to safety.

The Maple Road park has been barred to youngsters for the last seven months after one corner gave way to subsidence and left a three-foot wide crater at the boundary.

But after talks between the Pennyfern Residents and Tenants Association and Oak Tree, director Nick Jardine agreed to tarmac the surface and officially re-open the playpark once it had been restored to safety.

The work is expected to cost around £5,000. Mr Jardine said he hoped it would be completed by the end of March.

New goalposts and basketball hoops could also be installed after Sergeant McCracken told the meeting a £500 grant is available under the Community Wellbeing Scheme.

Vice-chair of the Pennyfern Association Charlie Orr, of Maple Road, said youngsters had taken the fence down through frustration.

The 56-year-old said: `There's been nowhere else for them to go. If you're sticking kids in houses like these, you've got a social responsibility to give them something to do.

`If they aren't kicking a ball about, they'll be getting up to mischief. We've told them the work will be a one-off, so if they vandalise it, it won't get fixed again.` Councillor Eddie Gallacher said: `Kids up here have got nothing to do so it's important this park gets fixed up for them, especially for the summer.` Mr Jardine said: `It was agreed that we would re-surface it to its original glaze finish because that was the most cost effective. It is one project that we're proceeding with out of many by the end of the financial year.`