THE powers that be in Northallerton and Darlington, and no doubt in many other communities, are grappling with the problem of providing the facilities and space for young people to let off steam.

The search for a skatepark site continues in the North Yorkshire county town, while in Darlington councillors this week mused over what to do about children playing football on its housing estates.

In both towns the struggle is to find the sites and fund the facilities for youngsters to do their thing without alienating local residents, in the main the elderly, whose idea of relaxation is not compatible with the bang, bang of balls on walls or the shrieks of athletic and not-so athletic skateboard artists.

Solutions must be found to this problem in both towns, and elsewhere, because investment in decent leisure/sporting facilities is perhaps the best investment we make in the future health of our nation. Leaving aside the obvious social benefits of mischief not getting into idle hands, there is the growing need for young people to be engaged in more physical activity.

Young people today do less today than earlier generations. Evidence of increasing obesity in the young is mounting and there are other indicators of the poor state of our youth, such as the additional work the Army has to do with its recruits to get them into acceptable physical condition.

Investment in the appropriate facilities is likely to pay dividends in the future too. Healthy children become healthy adults who in turn make fewer demands on our health services. It's an investment we can't afford not to make