RESIDENTS on a housing estate are up in arms over the "failure" of a developer to create a long-promised country park.

People living in Riverdown Park, Laverstock, say children are left playing in the streets because of the lack of play facilities and that it is only a matter of time before an accident happens.

The 55-hectare country park which is meant to have nature trails, a barbecue area and adventure playground is instead being used by the developer as a "dumping ground" for chalk spoil.

Kay Rudland who has launched a petition said: "Barratt Homes agreed to provide a country park to be built as part of their obligations for a new housing estate on a greenfield site.

"They removed play parks from the estate, claiming there would be plenty of them in the country park but they then dumped thousands of tonnes of spoil on the land designated for it which had to be fenced off for safety reasons.

"Children have nowhere to play so they have to play in the street and my concern is that with spring now here, more children are ourside, and I can see an accident happening, potentially some child will be maimed or killed."

Another resident Chris Western who lives opposite the country park site set up a campaigning Facebook page after getting fed up of looking at the chalk spoil.

"When I moved in we expected work to start in six months, and 18 months later, nothing has happened," he said.

The country park is expected to surround the site and provide a link between the nearby Avon Valley Country Park, Hudson’s Field and Bishopdown.

Rob Phillips, head of planning for Barratt Southern Counties, said the developer was "entirely committed" to creating the park and an amended design was awaiting final approval from Wiltshire Council.

He said: "We have discussed and agreed with the local councils our proposals to spread arisings from the site sensitively and safely across part of the country park land which will save thousands of lorry loads of trucks taking this material to a tip.

"Once the county park application is approved, we will be able to start redistributing some of this material and we hope that the benefit of this fantastic facility will soon be felt.”

Laverstock and Ford parish council chairman David Burton said the council was "very heartened" to hear Barratts was still committed to delivering the country park in partnership with the parish council and local community.

To sign the petition visit 38degrees.org.uk or for more details search for Laverstock Ford Country Park on Facebook.