A CHURCH elder who ordered a tree house to be removed and banned local kids playing in the church grounds says he was forced to act because of today’s “litigious society”.

Les Burge, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist congregation that meets at the church on Petra Street in Palmyra, says he’d love to see kids playing in the grounds, but the church’s insurers have made it clear they won’t cover injuries to anyone who’s not there on official business.

For the past 18 months Roux Korczynskyj and his friends have been building a tree house in a huge ficus growing at the rear of the church’s large property.

They’re not members of the congregation but live close by and say while the laughter can sometimes get raucous, they don’t misbehave and provide a presence that can help deter anti-social behaviour.

But a week ago the cubby was torn down and a sign banning them from the property went up.

They set up their own counter protest, ringing the trees with signs, but after meeting Mr Burge, Roux says he understand’s the elder’s predicament.

“Although I am still not happy about it, he was very nice and I understand his point of view.”

Mr Burge says a couple of years ago some kids roller skating on the church verandah went through a glass door.

The insurers weren’t happy, and when he suggested a sign banning roller skating, they deemed that to be tacit approval of everything else and ordered him to ban all non-church activities. “I sympathise with Roux, however had he sought our permission, prior to building the platforms on the church property, we would have refused his request for the above reasons,” Mr Burge said.

He agrees kids are missing out as Perth’s density increases and places to play diminish, but says unless there’s a way of giving schools or churches blanket indemnity, he can’t see a way around the problem.

by STEVE GRANT