Parents have slammed housing factor bosses as ‘killjoys’ after being told to tell their children to stop drawing on the pavement.
A letter was sent to parents at the estate in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, saying their childrens’ hopscotch chalk drawings were an eyesore.
The demands have branded a ‘disgrace’ by furious residents at the Bishopbriggs development and bosses ‘should ‘try to remember’ when they were children themselves.
Building factor, Speirs Gumley, also asked families to stop leaving bicycles and toys on the estate’s grassy area, as they were stopping landscapers from doing their work.
The letter read: ‘I notice that children are being allowed to chalk all over the monoblock areas at the front of the development.
‘This detracts from the overall appearance of the development; therefore I would ask if these children belong to your family they refrain from this practice immediately.’
The managing director of the company said residents will receive an apology, after saying the letter was written ‘in poor judgement’ and ‘common sense should have prevailed’.
Parents said they would be ignoring the letter and called it ’embarrassing’.
Mum-of-one Suzanne Mitchell, 33, who owns a beauty salon, called the warning a ‘joke’ and said there are bigger issues making the area look worse than chalk.
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She said: ‘I just think it’s embarrassing that they would even put that out there and ask kids not to do that because it literally doesn’t do any harm…
‘Parking is an issue, people are parking on the grass and it ends up ruined. There’s a school nearby so people park here.
‘We wanted to get a fence or barrier put up so the cars wouldn’t come in but they didn’t even want to do that.
‘I just think it’s a disgrace.’
But residents insisted the chalk drawings were not on the monoblock area – as bosses claimed – but on the tarmacked path between townhouses in the development, built by Mactaggart & Mickel.
A resident who chose to remain anonymous called the letter a ‘disgrace’ when they have been trying to raise issues of greater importance.
They said: ‘They are having a great time drawing with chalk in the path and it’s not harming anyone.
‘As soon as it rains it gets washed off – it’s not as if they are writing graffiti on walls.
‘It’s nonsense for the factor to attempt to crack down on kids just having fun.
‘What next? A curfew?’
Iain Friel, managing director of Speirs Gumley, said: ‘I have to say I am disappointed that such a letter was issued by Speirs Gumley and it was a poor judgement call on our part to do so.
‘Admittedly, we do get these type of complaints from time to time in housing developments that we manage and, of course, we recognise that clients in the same development can hold differing views on how to resolve things…
‘This is all somewhat ironic given that Speirs Gumley is a big supporter of local charity PEEK, whose mission it is to improve the lives of children and young people by unlocking their potential through play and by being creative.
‘We will of course be apologising to our clients for the handling of this.’
