Children should complain more about things in York that bother them, the city's Lord Mayor said today.

Coun Derek Smallwood made the plea as he faced about 100 primary schoolchildren at a special conference.

He did not have to wait long for a response.

Questions flooded in, ranging from complaints over dog fouling to lack of funding for schools.

One St Barnabas School pupil asked: "Could we get a bigger school playground at St Barnabas, so we don't get told off for knocking people over?"

And another youngster wanted to know: "Why don't parents play with us?"

The session, at the Tempest Anderson Hall in Yorkshire Museum Gardens, was part of the third annual children's conference organised by City of York Council.

When Fishergate Primary School pupil Polly Briden asked if there could be more easily accessible cycle routes, Ken Spence, a road safety officer, said simply: "Yes!"

There would be "lots and lots" more routes, he added.

The Lord Mayor, one of eight on a panel of people from the council, said: "Tell us where you want cycle routes, and tell us where you think it is dangerous to cross the road. We might be able to put a mini-roundabout in to make it safer.

"You think about what you want, and we will do what we can to make it happen - that's a promise from me."

On the subject of funding for schools, Coun Smallwood said the council had always been short of money. "But in York, the one thing that gets money is education," he said. "When I was vice-chairman of the planning and transport committee, I wanted cash to repair pavements and roads, but when it came to the crunch, the money always went to education."

Children's conference organiser Jo Armistead said: "It was arranged so that young people could talk to adults who make decisions affecting their lives."

In the afternoon, York MP Hugh Bayley and senior local councillors were signing up to the UN Convention On Children's Rights, which gives children the right to have their opinions taken into account whenever adults make a decision that affects them.

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