WHEN the police are seen playing cricket on the job, many might complain they are not fighting crime.

But a group of forward-thinking parents on the Craylands estate, in Basildon, are regularly inviting them for a game to do just that.

Craylands Activity Zone has been working to keep youngsters out of trouble by giving them something to do for the past nine years.

The group, which started as an arts and crafts club for youngsters during the school holidays, has grown toaweekly meet-up.

The group attracts hundreds of children every year, and in thepast 12 months has had more than 3,000 attendances from children aged from five to 16.

Sue Parson, 39, and other volunteers want to build connections between residents and outside groups working in the community.

She said: “One thing we find is that adults, parents and children trust us and we’re able to bring in outside organisations to build relationships.

“Police get a stigma and people don’t want to talk to them, but by playing street cricket the children get to find out a PCSO is just a normal person and they can talk to them.

“Once that relationship is established, children will feel confident to report crimes.”

Reducing hate crime has been a major project at action zone over the past year.

Although the people behind the scheme do not believe the estate has a particular problem, they want to take a proactive stance over hate crime.

The group has been campaigning to educate residents about hate crime effects by attending community events to spread the message. Last week it ran a fun day to help spread the message and raise funds.

As well as promoting positive messages, the action zone provides a fun atmosphere for children tostay busyin its Craylands Community Hall base.

With youngsters learning about healthy lifestyles, gaining skills and playing sport, the Craylands Action Zone wants to stop people outside the estate making judgments about residents.

Sue, a mum-of-two, added: “Because it’s Craylands, it has a reputation and people won’t go into the estate.

“They think it’s going to be a bad area.

“But it doesn’t matter where you live–if you want to be part of a community, you will be.

“Craylands has a vast number of community minded individuals and children who are quite often misrepresented, because of where they live.”

With many old buildings on the estate being torn down to make way for the regeneration, the action zone is there to stop people feeling alone.

Sue said: “People living on Craylands face two issues – isolation and deprevation.

“Everything is being knocked down and people don’t want to bring in new groups.

“The possibility of finding new clubs on your doorstep is not there and that’s contributing to isolation because there is nothing around.

“There could be nothing for people to do, but we’re here to keep a level of consistency while the estate is changing.”

To get involved with the action zone, find the group on Facebook, call 07588 651840, e-mail craylandsactivityzone@hotmail.co.uk or cazclub@hotmail.co.uk, or visit cazclub.co.uk