Ryan Jefferies and his friends have been told they can no longer play road hockey on this Enfield street. (CBC)

Kids should be allowed to play road hockey without being hassled by neighbours or police, Nova Scotia's minister of transportation says.

Bill Estabrooks said Tuesday that police have better things to do than handle complaints about kids playing hockey on the street.

An RCMP officer recently broke up a street hockey game in Enfield, a small community just outside Halifax, because of complaints from neighbours

Estabrooks said children should be allowed to play.

"You want them playing ball out in the public, or do you want them hanging around in the back of the store? And the kids that I know in the community, when they see you coming after they invite you to play for a moment or two, then they get out of the way," he said.

"It's a tradition in this country, and it should be allowed to continue."

Estabrooks is not impressed with residents in Enfield who complained about the children playing street hockey, saying they must have a lot of time on their hands.

"You know, our police have many more important things to do than to be responding to a complain of this nature," Estabrooks said. "They have to do that, I understand that, but just based upon common sense and good activities that kids have, ball hockey should be allowed to continue in a safe responsible way.

"Most of the kids that I know, they're doing it in a safe responsible way."

Ryan Jefferies, 12, said Monday that he lives for those afternoon hockey games near his home in Enfield. He and his friends jump off the school bus and run home for their hockey gear.

Ryan's mom, Debbie Jefferies, said she never received a direct complaint about the street hockey.

"They play all winter," she said. "They play in hockey leagues — each and every one of them — and they are on this street every single day. They're passionate about it."

Last month, a father in Quebec was fined $75 for playing a game of street hockey with his seven-year-old son and some of their friends on a residential street.

David Sasson of Dollard-des-Ormeaux said public security officers who patrol the neighbourhood told him they had to fine him because they received a noise complaint.

Since then, more than 500 people have signed a petition to strike down the Montreal-area West Island bylaw that forbids street sports.