A NEW playground and basketball area will be built at a Blackburn primary school -- even though nearby residents claim it will ruin their lives.

A planning application for the new facilities at Roe Lee Park Primary School, Emerald Avenue, was approved at a meeting of Blackburn with Darwen Council's planning and highways committee.

The chairman of the committee, Coun Frank Connor, refused to accept juvenile nuisance as a reason for placing additional conditions on the scheme -- including locking up the fenced basketball court at night -- even though he admitted: "It is a boroughwide problem."

The issue had been deferred from a previous meeting of the committee after residents complained the additional facilites would benefit local troublemakers who congregate at the school after dark.

But, in an additional report to the meeting, councillors were told the new playgrounds were needed because the exisiting hard play areas were now inadequete.

Funding for the scheme had also come direct from the Government to enable youngsters at the school to make the most of their facilities.

Currently, much of the school's grounds are grassed and unusable during spells of bad weather.

The new playground will be hidden from residents by high shrubs, hedges, fences and garages, and there has been no evidence of vandalism or loitering after school hours recorded in the area of the new facilities.

However, residents who are very uneasy about the impact the scheme will have on their lives had asked for it to be thrown out. Irene Heaney, chairman of the Roe Lee Area Residents Association, told the committee: "The school already attracts juveniles late into the night who play football and climb on to the school's roof.

"The proposed quiet play area, which backs on to house in Brownhill Drive, will exacerbate the juvenile nuisance prevalent in the area.

"We have worked long and hard for five years to combat the nuisance caused by these youths and children.

"At the end of the day, the teachers are only here during the day. We will have to put up with it 24 hours a day."

She also presented a petition of 53 signatures against the scheme. A suggestion by ward councillor Yusuf Jan-Virmani to lock up the basketball court at night was rejected by chairman Coun Connor.

He said: "As a school governer myself, I know that juvenile nuisance is a problem the borough over and I do not know what solution we can possibly possibly implement.

"It is up to the individual governers to tackle it in the best way for their respective school and its surrounding area."

Roe Lee headteacher Gelnys Lees said: "The open playing fields of the school cannot be utilised for various reasons.

"There has been no evidence of any problems on the site of the proposed quiet play area."