Pupils demand better playground

Sunnyside pupils have written to the Co-op and the council

Youngsters at a school in Clackmannanshire are campaigning for a better playground to allow them to keep fit and help protect the environment.

The pupils at Sunnyside Primary want their ground extended to include grassy land at the next-door bowling club.

The council is leasing the land for the pupils but it cannot buy it and make the necessary safety improvements until the Co-op agrees to sell.

The Co-op has said it is considering what do with the land.

In August 2006, Clackmannanshire Council agreed to buy the land so it could provide a grassy area for the Sunnyside pupils.

However, back in 1996, when the Alloa Co-operative Bowling Club purchased the land from the Co-op, included in the deal was the firm's right to buy it back if it was ever going to be sold.

That deal has so far thwarted the local authority's attempts to complete the purchase for the school pupils.

So, the youngsters have been writing to the council and the Co-op in the hope of moving things along.

Lewis, 11, explained to the BBC Scotland News website why getting the green space was so important.

"For PE lessons and to increase the number of sports for the school," he said.

I think everybody would be happy because we would have more places to play on Sam Sunnyside pupil

"It'll be better for the younger children.

"And there's environmental stuff like healthy eating at the school, and it'd be good for picnics."

Sam, also 11, added: "It'll be more fun, the PE lessons could be on it and it'll increase the overall size of our playground.

"We're actually leasing the land and if we're going to do these sports they really have to be on our playground, or we have to walk round to the bowling green, or we use a public park.

"If we did get this land, I think everybody would be happy because we would have more places to play on."

At the moment the gutters around the edges of the bowling green are a hazard for pupils and they are having to walk along the road to get the site.

Those problems would be sorted if the land was the school's to do as it wished.

A spokesman for The Co-operative Group said: "The land was transferred to the Alloa Co-operative Bowling Club some years ago on the understanding that we had the option to buy it back if the club was to sell it.

"We are currently investigating whether to exercise that option.

"Our transfer of the land to the bowling club was a way of benefiting our members, as it is a Co-operative club, while retaining its commercial value."