Residents in Thanington on the outskirts of Canterbury told senior city council officers they will not go quietly over any plans to replace recreation with park and ride.

About 100 people turned out at the public meeting last night in the neighbourhood centre at the heart of the threatened site.

Council chief executive Colin Carmichael told them the preferred site for the 600-space facility remained Faulkners Lane at Harbledown but said a Thanington site could prove more suitable.

Hundreds use the resource centre, football pitches and ball court each week but Mr Carmichael said those facilities would be replaced elsewhere in the city.

Football coach Mick Cooper said: "This estate used to be like Belfast.

"There was at least one car burnt out each week.

"These fields and the clubs that use them are keeping youngsters out of trouble."

A final site for a fourth park and ride in the city will be decided in the autumn.

* For more on this story, see this week's Kentish Gazette out on Thursday