Neighbours at war over school fence in Alnwick

Aug 4 2010 by Dave Black, The Journal

BOSSES at a Northumberland school have gone ahead with controversial plans to erect a £25,000 security fence despite claims that it is a waste of taxpayers' money.

Governors and the headteacher at Lindisfarne Middle in Alnwick have refused to bow to objections from neighbours and a local councillor and decided to put up the 1.8 metre-high mesh fence.

It is being built around the school’s playing fields and perimeter to protect pupils against potential threats posed by intruders.

The work is now under way, several weeks after the school was urged to re-think the plan in the wake of a survey which showed 80% opposition to the fence from 51 locals who responded.

Critics say it is too costly, unnecessary and a visual intrusion - and some angry neighbours claim it will prevent them from maintaining their own garden fences and hedges because of its proximity to their property.

The school decided to erect the fence after security for pupils was raised as a concern in an inspection by Ofsted.

Yesterday local county councillor, Gordon Castle, said he was “surprised and disappointed” that it had gone ahead in the face of opposition from neighbours.

“I find it a bit distressing to be publicly at odds with the school but, while I can see there is a problem with Ofsted, I don’t think this was the right way forward. It has caused serious harm to relations between the school and its neighbours.

“Now that the fence is going up, further anguish has been caused by the fact that it is built hard up against people’s rear fences and hedges, stopping them from getting out to tend to them.

“This is taxpayers’ money and putting up a security fence costing around £25,000 is over the top.”

Ray Prudhoe, 69, who has lived in Swansfield Park Road, Alnwick for 35 years, says the fence will prevent him from using his back gate to take garden and other refuse out to the main road via the school field.

“The advice I have been given is that I may have gained a common law prescriptive right of access, and I have written to other local residents suggesting they consider joining me in mounting a legal challenge to this fence.

“I have no objection to protecting children, but I just think the fence is a waste of money,” he added.

Yesterday Jane Poppleton, who chairs Lindisfarne Middle’s governors, said the fence aimed to address Ofsted concerns about security and ensure that the school’s boundary was far less porous.

She said: “We took the decision to go ahead and it is all about the safety of children. The fence provides a physical barrier and a deterrent, so while the children are on site we have done everything we can to keep them safe.”

Mrs Poppleton said sections of the fence could be removed by agreement to allow neighbours to do work such as painting their own fences or tending hedges.

She said the cost was not being met at the expense of any budgets for pupils’ books or equipment.