Holts kids hit back

Year 6 pupils at St Hugh’s with their letter to the Chronicle Editor.

SCHOOLCHILDREN have hit back at claims that the Holts Estate is a hell hole.

St Hugh’s pupils wrote letters to Chronicle editor David Whaley after people from Curlew Road complained about being terrorised at the weekends.

Some residents said they were frustrated by a lack of police response when yobs were urinating through letterboxes, banging on windows and taking drugs into the early hours of the morning.

But pupils living on the estate were so frustrated by the “exaggerated claims” that they held a debate in school yesterday and then spent the afternoon penning their thoughts.

They say that “Holts is cool” and that they love living there.

One 10-year-old, Kelis, said: “We know the police officers are around — they’ve got a bungalow where we can go.

“They are called PC Matt and PC Dave and we can talk to them if we want.

“We have good things here. Sometimes they set up projects in the park like different sports.”

And classmate Leah (10) said there are lots of arts activities going on at the youth centre and that the Youth Inclusion Project is great.

One teacher at the school, who lives on Holts estate, backed up the children’s thoughts, saying: “To be honest, we were a bit upset about the story. Ten years ago it was bad but now there’s nothing going on like that.

“I’m sure we would get to know about the reported incidents pretty quickly as it’s a real community here. If people are making up bad things about the estate they should be named and shamed.”

Another teacher from the estate said she would happily walk around at 3am and feel safe anywhere on the estate.

“Some people don’t like it, but we do — we’ve lived here all our lives.

“A handful of people always spoil it for the rest - it happens wherever you live.”